Pokémon: The Cybertron Saga
by EHSparkwoman
Summary: After recieving a message from a Pokémon professor, Ash and his friends find themselves exploring an unknown Pokémon region. Transformers in the story are from different universes (Prime, G1, Animated). Lots of Transformers in cameo roles later on. (ie. not just the Gym Leaders/Elite 4 etc.)
1. A Message

EHSparkwoman: Does anyone want to do this disclaimer?

Ash: EHSparkwoman doesn't own Pokémon; it belongs to whoever created it.

Pikachu: Pika! Pika! Chu Chu Pi Pika!

Ash: Pikachu says she doesn't own Transformers either; it belongs to who ever created it.

EHSparkwoman: And with that let's get on with the story!

**AN: Yay! More Transformers as Pokémon Trainers! And also you will only find one Transformer in this chapter; the Pokémon professor! Also if text is in **_italics_ **and it is a Pokémon's name then the Pokémon is speaking.**

Ash was just getting ready to go with his mum and Professor Oak to travel to the Unova region.

"I'm so psyched! I wonder how many new Pokémon there are! And how many new friends we'll meet right Pikachu?"

_Pika!_ Pikachu sounded excited to be going to a new region as well.

"I hope you remembered everything you are going to need Ash; remember Brock is busy training to be a Pokémon doctor, so he can't be cooking for you too…"

"I remembered to pack food mum." Sometimes, Ash thought his mum worried too much. Just before Ash and his mum were about to head off towards where they could catch a plane to Unova, a message came through on Professor Oak's screen.

"Ah, Professor Rowan, what can I do for you?" Professor Oak was curious as to what Professor Rowan might have to tell him.

"Has Ash left for Unova yet?"

"No I haven't Professor." Ash walked back into the room.

"Because I received an interesting call from a Pokémon Professor."

"Which one? Elm? Birch? Or Juniper?" Ash asked Professor Rowan. Professor Oak was hoping Juniper, maybe she'd contacted Professor Rowan about Ash travelling to Unova.

"He informed me his name was Perceptor."

"Maybe he is one of Juniper's assistants, but that seems a slightly unusual name." Professor Oak seemed confused.

"He says he is from a Pokémon region known as Cybertron."

"I've never heard of that Pokémon region." Professor Oak now seemed to want to know more.

"I could let you talk to him; you could ask him a few questions, I suppose." Professor Rowan then closed off the line; probably to contact Perceptor. A few seconds later a mostly red robot, who looked a bit like a microscope, appeared on the screen.

"Hello there, Professor Oak, I do believe you wanted to speak with me." Perceptor seemed friendly enough.

"You said you were from a region called Cybertron, is that right?"

"Yes. That is correct."

"Why have we not heard of the region?"

"This could be due to many things…" Perceptor sounded like he was going to start a long explanation.

"However the most likely being that not many people actually come to the Cybertron region due to the lack of unique Pokémon that live here."

"You mean there are only Pokémon that you can find in other regions in the Cybertron region?" Oak now had an idea why he'd never heard of the region; there weren't any new Pokémon to research there.

"That is correct. However I was hoping to ask Ash something." Ash stepped towards the screen.

"I'm listening." Ash hoped that it wouldn't be too boring.

"A Pokémon league of sorts recently became established in the region and I was wondering if you'd like to journey here to challenge it." Ash liked the idea of challenging a new Pokémon league but he wasn't sure about travelling alone.

"Could I think it over first? I'm not sure about travelling around a new region by myself."

"That's fine Ash; you can contact me when you have made your mind up." Perceptor then ended the call, leaving Ash to think about it.

"Ash, couldn't you contact your friends and see if they wanted to explore the new region with you." Professor Oak suggested.

"That's a good idea Professor! I'll just contact them now, do you mind if I use your console?"

"Not at all Ash." Ash then walked up to the screen and began messaging Misty.

"Hello this is Violet, from Cerulean Gym."

"Hi Violet, is Misty around?" Ash asked.

"I'll just get her… MISTY!" Violet called for her younger sister.

"What?"

"Ash would like to speak with you."

"Tell him I'm not here."

"I can hear you Misty!" Ash sounded amused.

"Alright fine…" Misty walked towards the screen.

"What do you want Ash?"

"I was just wondering if you would like to come to a newly discovered Pokémon region with me."

"What do you mean newly discovered? It's not Unova is it?"

"No, a completely unheard of region and the Pokémon professor asked if you would like to go."

"I'll go, if just to see what new Pokémon I can find."

"OK meet me at Professor Oak's lab." Ash then ended the call; he thought he'd better not mention that the Cybertron region didn't have any new Pokémon, just an unusual Pokémon professor. _Now to contact Brock. I hope he is still at Pewter City… _Ash then messaged Brock.

"Hello this is the Pewter City Pokémon Gym. Oh, it's you Ash. What do you want?"

"I've just been contacting Misty and I wondered if you'd like to join both of us on a journey to a new region."

"I've been hearing a lot about a region named Unova. Is that where you are going?"

"No you won't have heard of this region. But the Pokémon professor there asked me to invite you along."

"I'll go with you, Ash. I have to wait to start studying for being a Pokémon doctor anyway; the term doesn't start until September."

"That's good Brock. I'll meet you at Oak's lab." Ash then ended that call and called May.

"You have reached Petalburg City Pokémon Gym. Oh! May come here! Ash wants to talk to us!" Max answered the call.

"Oh! Hi Ash! Did you have a reason for contacting me?" May sounded nervous.

"I just got a call from a Pokémon professor asking me to go a new Pokémon region. And I was wondering if you would like to come with me."

"Well… Does this new region do Pokémon contests?" Ash looked confusedly back at the screen.

"I think so; all the other regions do so I would think that this region does too." Ash hoped that would be enough to convince May to come with him.

"I'll just have to show them how good contest battles are if they don't!" May liked a challenge.

"Can I come too Ash?" Max asked.

"Sure! Both of you meet me at Professor Oak's lab." Ash then ended the call and called Professor Rowan.

"Hello Ash. I take it you spoke with Perceptor."

"Yes sir. I was wondering if Dawn was around."

"She is just visiting Sandgem Town for a little while. She shouldn't be far away. I'll just go look for her." Rowan left the screen for a little while and shortly after Dawn came up to the screen with her Buneary.

"Hello Ash. As you can see I've been working on my designs." Dawn's Buneary then climbed up next to the screen wearing what seemed to be a new design.

_Buneary…_ Buneary seemed to be trying to attract Pikachu's attention. Pikachu looked back at her nervously.

"They look great Dawn. I was trying to contact you to ask if you wanted to travel to a new region with me."

"Oh! Of course Ash! I've been wanting to go to the Unova region since I heard about it!" Dawn got very excited.

"I'm not going to the Unova region just yet. I've been invited to a previously unknown region and was wondering if you would like to come with me."

"An unknown region? It's got to have lots of different things to try out! I'll go with you Ash." Dawn answered. _Piplup!_ Piplup also chirped from where he was stood on the floor next to Dawn.

_Bun-Buneary! _Buneary answered from next to the screen.

"You can come and meet me at Professor Oak's lab." Ash then ended the call to wait for them to get to Pallet Town.

A short while later…

Ash was now just waiting for the ferry from Sinnoh to arrive.

"I wonder where that ferry goes." May pointed at a ferry with a bizarre red symbol on the side.

"I'm not sure May." Brock answered her; he didn't recognise the symbol either. Just after that they all noticed the ferry from Sinnoh pulling into the dock. About five minutes later, Dawn came running down the ramp, followed by Piplup.

"Hi guys!" Dawn stopped just in front of them. _Piplup-Pip! _Piplup answered looking rather happy at being the centre of attention.

"We'll just go and have a quick talk with Perceptor and then maybe he can tell us how to get to this new region."

"Who's Perceptor, Ash?"

"He's the Pokémon professor in the new region that we're going to." Ash hoped that would stop Misty asking questions for a while, and he walked off towards Professor Oak's lab.

"Ah! There you are Ash. I did wonder where you had wandered off to." Ash's mum hoped that Ash hadn't left without saying goodbye to her.

"I'm just getting ready to go to the new region." Ash hoped his mum wouldn't embarrass him too much.

"OK. Good luck honey!" Ash's mum then left to go to the docks; she'd wave him off there.

"Let's contact Perceptor." Ash walked over to the console.

"He has an unusual name." Misty said and then followed Ash.

"Hello again Ash. I assume you have made up your mind then." The others stared at the screen.

"Ash…" Misty looked slightly scared.

"You didn't tell us…" May also took a step back from the screen.

"COOL!" Max yelled at the screen. Everyone looked around at Max.

"It's a talking robot!"

"I'd prefer to be called a Transformer if you don't mind." Perceptor told Max.

"How do we get to the em…?" Brock looked at Perceptor, hoping he knew what Brock was trying to ask.

"You get on the ferry with the symbol like the one on my chest" Perceptor pointed to the symbol on his chest "or like this one" He held up a picture with a purple symbol "on the side, to go to the Cybertron region."

"Thanks Perceptor. We'll meet you at your lab." Ash thanked him and then ended the call.

"Come on guys, let's go!" Ash ran off towards the door and the others had no choice but to follow him, or be left behind! It didn't take them long to find the ship with the red symbol on the side.

"Hello, are you wanting to go to the Cybertron region?" A boy with raven coloured hair asked them.

"Yes actually. I don't suppose you have a map for this region." Ash hoped this boy had a map.

"I don't have one." The boy looked slightly worried when Ash was disappointed. "But Perceptor will give you one when you get there."

"Jack come on! We need to get on the boat to go back now you have those new Pokémon."

"Oh! Coming mum! Sorry I'll have to go. You can come with me though; since you'll be joining me to go to Cybertron anyway." Jack walked up the ramp leading on to the boat and Ash and the others followed.

"Why'd you wander off Jack? Did you forget one of the Pokémon Perceptor sent you for?"

"No mum but…"

"WOW!" Brock ran forward and took Jack's mum's hand.

"We may have just met but I think I'm in love with you and… AAAAAHHHHH!" Just as he was getting into his romantic rant Croagunk poison-jabbed him in the stomach.

"Or not…" Brock managed to say just before Croagunk dragged him away with a chuckle.

"Is he alright? I hope that Pokémon didn't hurt him." Jack's mum sounded worried.

"Hey! We just saw a boy being dragged along by a… Who are your new friends Jack?" A girl with black hair with pink streaks in it asked Jack.

"Miko I just met these guys and they are about to go to Cybertron too."

"And they are?" Miko sounded confused.

"I'm Misty, and the boy you just saw was Brock."

"I'm May and this is my brother Max." May pointed at Max when she said his name.

"I'm Dawn and this is…"

"OH MY GOD! You have a Piplup! I love them! But Perceptor said we couldn't go to the Sinnoh region." Miko eagerly looked at Piplup. _Piplup…_ Piplup actually looked a bit nervous for once.

"And I'm Ash and this is my partner, Pikachu." _Pikachu!_ Pikachu answered sounding happy.

"This is your Captain speaking. The ferry for the Cybertron region will be leaving shortly. So please head below deck while we get the ship started up." An announcement was heard over the intercoms on the ship.

"Come on guys let's go below deck for now." Jack, Miko and his mum walked off down the stairs. This left Ash to talk to the others.

"Are you guys looking forward to this?"

"If there are lots of new water types to catch, I think I'll enjoy this!" Misty was hoping to see Pokémon from out of the regions she knew.

"I hope there are lots of pretty girls there for me!" Brock sounded very excited all of a sudden.

"I'd like to know if all of them there are robots!"

"Max, Perceptor got offended by that term; you don't want to be offending a really big one, so call them Transformers."

"Why do you want to go, May and Dawn?" Ash then asked.

"I'd like to try out their interpretation of contests!"

"Me too! I hope they do them…" Dawn sounded worried.

"It shouldn't take that long to get there I hope…" Ash didn't want to be stuck on the ferry for hours… But, after what Max had said, all of them were wanting to know if all of the inhabitants of the Cybertron region were robots!

**AN: I know there aren't that many Transformers in this chapter, but there will be more of them making an appearance in the next chapter! Also Perceptor is his G1 incarnation. And the red and purple symbols are the Autobot and Decepticon ones just in case people weren't sure…**


	2. A Run in with the Kaon Krusher!

**AN: The Transformers are human sized in this fic, ranging from about 3 and a half feet to 7 and a half feet in height.**

"This is your Captain speaking. We will be arriving in Kaon very soon."

"Let's go to the upper deck and have a look!" Max ran off up the stairs to the upper deck so he could look and see what the new region looked like. Ash and the others quickly followed him.

"Whoa…" All of them seemed in awe of the region; all of the structures looked like they were made of metal but, even though this was the case, they still thought that it was unlikely all of the inhabitants were Transformers.

"That's Kaon. It's where all the new Trainers start out in the region, after they have gotten a starter from another region, since we don't have any here." Jack had also wandered up to the top deck to look back out onto the region.

"You don't have any starter Pokémon in this region!" Misty sounded shocked.

"If that is the case, what Pokémon did you start with, Jack?" Brock sounded curious.

"I chose a Chikorita. He's very friendly."

"I chose a Totodile who likes to stand out. Would you like to meet them?" Miko answered eagerly.

"Alright let's meet them." Dawn seemed to want to meet them. _Piplup!_ Piplup seemed to want to meet them as well.

"Go Bayleef!"

"Go Feraligatr!" Jack and Miko summoned their Pokémon. Everyone seemed surprised that they were evolved. Miko's Feraligatr stood proudly with his hands on his hips. Jack's Bayleef happily talked to the other Pokémon. _Bay! Bayleef!_ Just after the Pokémon appeared they heard an announcement.

"We are now docked in Kaon. Enjoy your visit!" The Captain happily told the passengers.

"OK! Let's go and see what sort of things we might be able to see in this region!" Ash quickly ran off towards the ramp and the others had no choice but to follow. _Bay! Bay!_ Bayleef seemed to be trying to get someone's attention. Everyone looked around to where Bayleef was shouting and then saw an Ivysaur waddling towards them.

"Ivysaur! Where are you going? Oh! Jack, Miko you're back! Did you catch lots of new Pokémon?"

"Yes Raf. Is Perceptor around?" Jack was hoping so.

"I'm here Jack. Oh! Hello Ash, I see the journey went OK."

"Yes Perceptor, it did. I don't suppose you have a map of the region."

"I have one of those in the lab that I can give you along with a badge case; you will need it to hold the gym badges you will collect." Perceptor walked back into the lab followed by Jack, Miko and Raf.

"We'd better get going." Ash then followed them into the lab. He was met at the door by a bold Sceptile.

"Err… Hello there Sceptile. Can we come in please?" Ash asked him politely. Sceptile pondered for a moment and then moved out of the way.

"Thank you." Ash walked past him and inside.

"Don't worry about him. That's just my helper Sceptile. He does like meeting new people and for some reason he stands in front of the door and keeps intruders out of the lab. Now then here is a map of the region Ash along with a badge case to hold the gym badges you win. The towns with a Pokémon gym in them have a square marking on them." Perceptor then went off to see what new Pokémon Jack and Miko had caught.

"Oh, look guys! There's a gym in this town!" Ash sounded excited.

"We should go and see if it is accepting challengers then." May suggested and with that Ash walked out the door followed by the others. _IVY!_ The group looked around and saw Raf's Ivysaur running after them.

"Wait! Perceptor forgot to give you something." Raf ran out after his Ivysaur and caught up to Ash.

"Professor Juniper sent the improved Pokédex from the Unova region, since she figured you might need it." Raf gave Ash the Pokédex and then went back inside.

"OK. Now maybe we can go and challenge the gym…" Ash then walked towards the gym and seemed slightly annoyed when a tall purple and silver Transformer was stood outside it.

"Are you the new challengers for the league or are you just here to cause trouble?" The mech had a low pitched voice with a higher pitched squeak behind it.

"I'm Ash, from Pallet Town in the Kanto region and I'm here to challenge the gym." Ash answered.

"I'm sorry but Blitzwing isn't accepting any challengers at the moment."

"Why not?" Brock was the only one who wondered why.

"Some kids recently broke into the gym and stole something. Blitzwing is off trying to find them and he left me to guard the gym to make sure no one else broke in and stole things."

"We'll help you find the troublemakers err…" Misty paused, not sure what this mech called himself.

"Astrotrain."

"Sure thing Astrotrain. We'll help catch them!" Ash then walked off towards the woods to the right of the city.

"Hey Ash! Wait up!" The others all ran off after him leaving Astrotrain slightly confused as to why they all ran off so quickly; he didn't tell them about the other person searching for the troublemakers as well…

In the woods outside Kaon…

"Ash, are you sure that they weren't still hiding in the city?"

"No Misty but if you took something you wouldn't stay anywhere near where you took it from; Team Rocket never does!"

"Stop right there!" Everyone heard a loud voice and turned around.

"Oh. Hello there. We were just looking for some kids who stole something from the gym. Can we help you?" Ash was trying to be polite; this mech was quite big and they didn't want to annoy him.

"So, it was you taking things from the gym was it? You'll have to face the wrath of the Kaon Krusher for stealing!"

"Kaon Krusher?" May was amused.

"That's got to be Blitzwing Ash. Be careful, he's a gym leader; he'll have really strong Pokémon."

"I'll be careful Max. OK, I accept your challenge!" Ash stepped forward confidently.

"This will be a two on two battle and…"

"It will be over when both Pokémon of one side can no longer battle." The mech they thought might be Blitzwing looked at Brock confusedly.

"I'll referee for you."

"Fine. Let the battle begin!"

"Go Rhydon!" A large grey Pokémon that looked like a rhino standing on its back legs appeared.

"Buizel, I choose you!" Ash summoned his faithful sea weasel Pokémon.

"The first round will be Rhydon vs. Buizel. Let's begin!" Brock called.

"Rhydon use Bulldoze!" The Rhino stomped its feet on the ground rhythmically creating tremors.

"Buizel use Aqua Jet!" Buizel jumped off the ground covered by a vortex of water and he hit Rhydon before it could use Bulldoze. Rhydon seemed annoyed at being hit.

"Rhydon use Horn Attack!" Rhydon ran towards Buizel with its horn sticking out.

"Buizel use Water Pulse!" Buizel collected a ball of water in his hands then flung it at Rhydon again before Rhydon could hit. Rhydon wobbled a bit from being hit by two water attacks.

"Rhydon use Stomp!" Rhydon moved towards Buizel and then stomped down hard on his tail. Buizel cried out; that hurt!

"Buizel use Water Gun to get Rhydon off your tail!" Buizel shot a stream of water from his mouth and Rhydon took a couple of steps back to get away from the water.

"Rhydon use Horn Attack!" Rhydon lowered his head and rammed its horn into Buizel; sending him flying backward.

"Hang in there Buizel! Use Aqua Jet!" Buizel jumped up again in a swirl of water, spinning his tail like a propeller. He slammed into Rhydon and it fell back. Rhydon didn't get up.

"Rhydon is unable to battle!"

"Rhydon return." The mech returned Rhydon to his pokéball and pulled out a different pokéball.

"Go Pikachu!" A yellow mouse appeared very similar to Ash's. _Blitzwing has a Pikachu? I'm not sure type his gym is then if he has a Rhydon and a Pikachu…_ Ash thought pondering how he might be able to beat that Pikachu.

"Pikachu use Slam!" Pikachu's tail glowed with a white light and it swung behind him ready to hit Buizel.

"Buizel dodge then use Ice Punch!" Buizel jumped back and the Pikachu's tail hit the ground where Buizel stood a few seconds before. Buizel then ran forwards with his right paw coated in ice. The paw was the punched into Pikachu's stomach. Pikachu went flying backwards with a startled cry.

"Pikachu use Thundershock!" _PIKACHUUUUUU! _A bolt of electricity flew from Pikachu and struck Buizel. Buizel fell forwards with swirls in his eyes.

"Buizel is unable to battle!" Brock sounded slightly worried.

"Buizel return." Buizel went back into his pokéball.

"You did well Buizel. Would you like to go now Pikachu?" Ash asked his partner. With an eager cry of _Pika!_ Pikachu jumped onto the battle field.

"Pikachu use Iron Tail!" _Chu-Aaaa…_ Pikachu swung his tail up into the air. _PIKA! _And then brought it down on the enemy Pikachu's head. _PI-PIKA!_ The other Pikachu sounded angry!

"Pikachu use Quick Attack!" The mech's Pikachu ran forward towards Ash's Pikachu.

"Pikachu use Quick Attack too!" Ash's Pikachu ran forward as fast as he could and collided with the other Pikachu in the middle. Both of them were still standing after the hit, but Blitzwing's Pikachu wobbled a bit.

"Pikachu Quick Attack again!" Blitzwing's Pikachu ran towards Ash's again.

"Pikachu Volt Tackle!" _Pika-pika-pika-pika-pika_… Pikachu began to run towards the other one, electricity building as he did so. _PIKA-PIKA!_ The Pikachus both collided in the middle. A few sparks jolted Ash's Pikachu but after the collision, Blitzwing's Pikachu collapsed.

"Pikachu is unable to battle. The winner is Ash!" Brock sounded pleased.

"We did it Pikachu!" Ash picked up Pikachu and hugged him. _Pika! Pika!_ Pikachu happily talked to Ash.

"I'm sorry Blitzwing. I couldn't beat the thieves…"

"Wait… You're not Blitzwing?" Dawn sounded confused.

"I'm Lugnut and Blitzwing asked me to find the thieves who stole his Pokémon."

"Some people stole Blitzwing's Pokémon?"

"Yes but I feel useless because I couldn't beat you…"

"We didn't take Blitzwing's Pokémon but we will help you catch the ones who did!" May sounded annoyed though she didn't have a clue who stole the Pokémon.

"Really, Thank you!" Lugnut sounded happy.

"I think they went that way; towards Polyhex." Lugnut pointed towards what looked to be heading deeper into the forest.

"Come on; let's get going before they get away!" Misty ran off in the direction that Lugnut pointed in and he and the others followed her.

**AN: Just a point, TFA Blitzwing is who Lugnut and Astrotrain refer to; even though it's G1 Astrotrain. And the Pikachu Lugnut has is based off my own.**


	3. Triple Trouble!

"Are you sure this is the way to Polyhex Ash?" Misty sounded slightly annoyed even though it was her that ran off in front.

"That's what Lugnut said. Why don't you ask him?" Ash was getting annoyed with Misty as well.

"Stop arguing you two! That's not going to help us find the troublemakers." Brock tried to stop them from fighting; that sort of thing had a tendency to hold them up on previous occasions.

"I think I spotted someone hiding over there." May pointed to a bush and then the rest of the group heard giggling coming from the bush.

"Who's in there?" Lugnut shouted at the bush. A small orange mech jumped out from the bush.

"Hello there…" The mech paused looking at the group then spoke again, to Dawn.

"How may I help you lady fair?"

"Aw he's sweet! What's your name little one?" Dawn asked back.

"I'm Wheelie. And I'm steely…" Wheelie answered her.

"We can see that…" Misty sounded slightly confused.

"Why were you hiding in the bushes?" Max asked Wheelie.

"I'm hiding in this bush type thing… Because I stole a Pokémon from Blitzwing!" And with that Wheelie ran off further into the woods again laughing.

"Get back here with those Pokémon!" Lugnut seemed to be getting ready to run after him.

"What do you mean some? I ran off with only one!" Wheelie was still running away.

"Quickly after him!" Lugnut ran off after him, completely ignoring what Wheelie just said.

"We'd better follow him before he ends up losing Wheelie." Dawn said and then ran off after Lugnut, the others not far behind her. Wheelie was the only one who had any clue which way he was running and then he had a bad feeling. _Better make these guys give up the chase… before they find our secret base!_ Wheelie had an idea and then scrambled up a tree. A short while later Ash and the others walked under the tree that Wheelie was hiding in. They all stopped when they heard Wheelie's voice.

"You go wrong way… You fool I say!"

"Where did that come from?" Lugnut began to look around.

"It seemed to come from directly overhead." Misty pointed up at the tree branch above her. Meanwhile Ash was walking towards a patch of really long grass. He brushed it aside then cried out.

"Hey! There's a hole back here!"

"That looks like the secret base we made when we were younger May!" Max seemed to have some idea of what it was.

"Yes but ours wasn't hidden behind a patch of grass; it was inside a bush."

"Let's go have a look inside." Brock stepped through the grass into the cavern hidden behind it.

"That you Wheelie?" A female voice answered.

"How do I answer that?" Brock was hoping Ash might have some idea how to imitate Wheelie's voice.

"It must be; who else would come in here? Come join us Wheelie!" A male voice spoke this time.

"We'd better go in." Brock walked towards the tunnel leading into the cave.

"I don't think I can get through there… I'll wait for you out here." Lugnut stood outside the door; Brock had to crouch down quite a bit and Lugnut thought that the cave looked too narrow for him to fit in. So Ash and the others went inside.

"Hey! What are you doing in here! This is our base! No grown-ups allowed!" The girl sounded quite angry with them.

"None of us are over eighteen. We are all allowed in here by what you said." Max answered her.

"Oh… In that case, welcome to our base!"

"They followed me here… Know the truth I fear." Wheelie then walked past the group stood near the entryway to the cave.

"What are you on about Wheelie?" The girl asked.

"I tell them what we've done… Stolen Blitzwing's Pokémon."

"Oh, that…" The girl didn't sound that bothered about being caught.

"You sound like this isn't a problem; but stealing is wrong! Why'd you steal Blitzwing's Pokémon?" Dawn asked them now not so fond of Wheelie.

"Sari dared me to… Said she'd do it if I did too." Wheelie answered Dawn.

"Daniel dared me to steal one of Blitzwing's Pokémon." Sari told Dawn.

"Wheelie told me that he and Sari were going to steal one of Blitzwing's Pokémon and dared me to take one as well."

"Why would you want to steal Pokémon in the first place?" Ash couldn't understand why anyone would want to steal Pokémon; not even Team Rocket.

"Blitzwing said we were too young to train Pokémon ourselves." Sari sounded cross.

"But all other Transformers have Pokémon…" Daniel also sounded slightly disappointed.

"Even Jack, Miko and Raf have Pokémon and Raf isn't that much older than us!" Sari didn't think that was fair.

"How old are you guys?" May asked them.

"Eight." Sari answered seeming to think that was old enough to train Pokémon.

"Nine." Both Daniel and Wheelie answered.

"I'm the same age as you Daniel and I can't train Pokémon by myself yet!" Max didn't seem that bothered by this.

"Why can't you train Pokémon? I know how to do it. Bumblebee showed me and let me battle with his Pokémon."

"The age any child gets given a Pokémon trainers licence is ten years old. That's the rules. Even if you don't agree with them you have to abide by them." Brock told them.

"We're not giving Blitzwing his Pokémon back! Why should he be allowed to train Pokémon when we can't."

"Grown-ups are mean! Keep all good things for the teens." Wheelie answered.

"Are you going to stay in there all day or are you actually going to come outside and face your punishment!" Lugnut shouted from outside.

"We'd better go… Before he gets any angrier…" Daniel began to walk slowly towards the door followed by Sari and Wheelie. Ash and the others followed them outside.

"Return the Pokémon you stole." Lugnut didn't seem to be taking any nonsense.

"No!" Sari shouted.

"I have an idea." Brock said which got everyone's attention.

"Why don't you three battle against Lugnut…?"

"That doesn't sound fair! That's three on one!"

"I don't mind helping you Lugnut." Dawn stepped forward. _Pip!_ Piplup jumped down eagerly.

"I'll help you battle too. Sari kinda reminds me of what I used to be like…" May also stood beside Lugnut.

"Can I referee Brock?"

"Sure thing Ash."

"OK! This battle will be three on three and will be over when all three Pokémon on one side can no longer battle. Choose your Pokémon!" Ash sounded very excited.

"I only have you… So go Cubchoo!" Wheelie sent out a Pokémon that Ash had never seen before. So he looked it up on his Pokédex.

"_Cubchoo, the Chill Pokémon. Its nose is always running. It sniffs the snot back up because the mucus provides the raw material for its moves._"

"My turn now! Go Magby!" Sari summoned a small red Pokémon that looked like a child made of fire.

"Let's go Lotad!" Daniel sent out a Pokémon that looked like a lily pad.

"Buneary, spotlight!" Dawn sent out her bunny rabbit Pokémon.

"Skitty, take the stage!" A small pink kitten appeared in front of May.

"Pikachu go!" Lugnut summoned his Pikachu.

"Since you've all chosen your Pokémon let the battle begin!" Ash shouted happily.

"OK! Lotad use Astonish!" Daniel called out. Lotad looked around at him confusedly; this wasn't his master, why should he listen to him?

"Come on Lotad! Please…" Daniel's pleads seemed to work as Lotad ran forward, shouting loudly.

"Pikachu use Thundershock!" Pikachu let out a bolt of lightning which then struck Lotad, stopping him in his tracks.

"Cubchoo use Powder Snow, go!" Wheelie commanded Cubchoo but, unlike Lotad, Cubchoo listened to Wheelie and sniffled his nose then blew out snow at the opponents.

"Buneary use Bounce!" Buneary sprang up out of the way of the snow and seemed to be aiming for Lotad.

"Skitty use Assist!" Skitty tapped her paws on the ground and then sprang forward with one of her back paws covered in fire.

"What move is that? That looks strange for the cat…" Wheelie looked confused; assist was a move that allowed Skitty to get one of her back paws covered in fire, then attack? Skitty slammed her back paw into Cubchoo; knocking him flying.

"Come on Cubchoo, I need you!" Wheelie willed Cubchoo to stand up but he then noticed he had swirls in his eyes and gave up.

"Cubchoo is unable to battle!"

"Aw… Cubchoo return. Now it's Sari's turn." Wheelie spoke and then was quiet.

"Magby use Ember!" Magby spat embers at Pikachu; it appeared he was as easily made angry as his trainer! Pikachu shuddered, to try and shift the embers away from it.

"Come on Pikachu! Hang tough!" Hearing his master's voice Pikachu jumped out of the patch of fire and happily shouted _Pika!_ at being free.

"Lotad use Water Gun!" Lotad didn't seem to hear Daniel this time and instead used Nature Power, which caused a bunch of stars to fly across the area towards Skitty and Pikachu.

"That doesn't look like Water Gun… But it looks much stronger! That's Swift!" Daniel sounded happy; Swift did more damage.

"Pikachu quickly, jump!"

"You too Skitty!" Pikachu just managed to jump over the stars before he got hit but Skitty wasn't so lucky, she took a direct hit.

"Hang in there Skitty! Use Tackle!" Skitty ran forward towards Magby hoping to knock him flying.

"Now Buneary!" Buneary descended from the sky and landed feet first on top of Lotad who collapsed from the damage.

"Lotad is unable to battle!" Ash sounded slightly pleased.

"Sari, you gotta win this!" Daniel was hoping Sari could win against all of those Pokémon. Sari was looking at the Skitty running towards Magby; then she had an idea.

"Magby dodge then use Fire Punch!" Magby waited until Skitty got close then jumped over Skitty's head. _Skit? _Skitty looked confused as to where her target had gone. Until she felt a burning pain in her back. She looked around and saw her target with a hand covered in fire hitting her back. Skitty went flying just after that and when she landed she had swirls in her eyes.

"No!"

"Skitty is unable to battle…" Ash had hoped that the battle wouldn't end up being hard.

"Skitty return…" May sounded disappointed; she thought Skitty was stronger than that.

"Pikachu use Slam!" At that point Pikachu jumped into the air and swung his tail around to hit Magby. _Pika-Pika-Chu-Pi!_ Pikachu shouted which sounded a lot like 'why did you knock out Skitty?' Pikachu's tail knocked Magby up into the air and when Magby hit the ground with swirls in his eyes.

"Magby is unable to battle! The winners are May, Dawn and Lugnut!" Ash sounded happy that they won.

"I suppose that means we have to give the Pokémon back to Blitzwing…" Sari sounded disappointed.

"If you wanted to battle Pokémon you could have just asked Blitzwing; he is looking for some helpers to train his Pokémon and I'm sure he wouldn't mind if you helped him." Lugnut would have to ask Blitzwing, he wasn't sure about that but it might help.

"Why didn't we think of that? Bumblebee lets us battle using his Pokémon all the time; most of the other Transformers probably would too…" Daniel thought that would have been a better idea now.

"We're sorry for stealing." Sari apologised.

"It isn't me you should be apologising to; it's Blitzwing."

"Now we have lots of grown-ups chase, have to hide our secret base…" Wheelie said which not many of them seemed to understand.

"Promise you won't tell anyone where our secret base is. We don't need our parents to come find it and tell us off for spending too long in there." Sari hoped they would agree.

"I'm not going to tell anyone where you hid your secret base Sari, me and Max didn't tell anyone where our base was either when I showed him where I'd put it." May told Sari and everyone else said they wouldn't tell anyone where the base was.

"Now it is about you went back to Kaon and gave Blitzwing his Pokémon back." Lugnut began to walk towards Kaon and the others followed.

"Which way is the exit to this forest that leads to Polyhex?" Brock asked hoping for someone to answer.

"Give stare, over there." Wheelie pointed behind Brock and the group could see that it did appear to be getting lighter that way.

"Thanks Wheelie!" Ash shouted after them but they didn't seem to hear. Ash and the others then began to walk towards Polyhex.

**AN: Did any of you guys have Emerald? Do you remember using Secret Power on trees, rocky walls and bushes to make a secret base? That's where the idea for May and Max's base came from! The Pokédex entry comes from Pokémon White, since that's the version I have. And it's G1 Wheelie and Daniel in this fic. And Lugnut (and the other Decepticons) is being very nice to the kids and Autobots; there is a reason for that, which will be explained later on in the story.**


	4. The First Gym's A Knock Out!

Ash and the others had just made it out of the forest and saw another city that appeared to be made of metal at the base of a large metallic mountain.

"I'm guessing this is Polyhex since we did just walk through the forest." Misty looked around and couldn't help wondering; why do all these cities look the same?

"Why do these cities look the same?"

"The cities don't look the same Ash; Kaon didn't have that huge mountain near it." Max hoped Ash wouldn't be like this when they got to every city.

"And I don't recall seeing that white and blue mech in Kaon." Dawn pointed out.

"Maybe he knows where the gym is." May thought he might for some reason.

"Let's go and ask him!" Ash walked off towards the mech and the others followed.

"Hello mister…" Ash started to say before the mech spoke to him.

"Please none of those formalities; call me Mirage."

"Fine, Mirage could you tell us where the gym is?"

"You are standing right outside it."

"Oh… Right thanks!"

"Wait a minute! You can't go challenging the gym yet!"

"Why not? Let me guess; this guy isn't taking any challengers either." Misty sounded annoyed.

"No, he's definitely taking challengers; but my friend is about to challenge him."

"Then why aren't you in there supporting him? I'd be supporting Ash if he was challenging the gym." Dawn asked Mirage.

"I didn't know you were allowed to." Mirage motioned towards the door and Ash and the others followed him. Inside, it did look like a battle was about to take place.

"This will be a one vs. one battle and it will be over when the Pokémon on either side can no longer battle." A yellow mech shouted out across the arena.

"Go, Chimchar!" A red mech shouted from one end of the arena.

"Challenger, send out your Pokémon!" A red mech that looked similar to the yellow mech shouted from next to who Ash assumed was his twin.

"I'm going to win this match and prove just how weak you are."

"Cliffjumper… No need to be mean; he wasn't nasty to you now was he?"

"Fine go Bouffalant!" Cliffjumper sent a Pokémon that looked like a bull into the arena. Ash checked it on his Pokédex.

"_Bouffalant, the Bash Buffalo Pokémon. They charge wildly and headbutt everything. Their headbutts have enough destructive force to derail a train._"

"Right this battle will be between Bouffalant and Chimchar."

"I can see that Sunstreaker. I don't need you to tell me that!" The red mech shouted at the yellow mech at the side of the arena.

"Err right… Anyway let the battle begin!" Sunstreaker shouted out.

"Bouffalant use Head Charge!" Cliffjumper's Bouffalant lowered his head and charged forward at Chimchar.

"Chimchar jump over Bouffalant then use Ember!" Chimchar waited until Bouffalant got really close and then jumped out of the way, over Bouffalant's head. Bouffalant had to slow himself down really quickly to make sure he didn't collide with the Gym Leader. His abrupt stop did kick up a lot of dust however.

"CHIMCHAR! What did you do that for? That dust could have damaged my paintjob!" The gym leader got annoyed when Chimchar sniggered at him; Chimchar was very mischievous.

"Quit your whining Knock Out. It didn't and look…" Sunstreaker pointed at Chimchar who had now spat fire at Bouffalant, who reacted by snarling at being hit from behind. Bouffalant charged back towards his master, narrowly missing Chimchar.

"Bouffalant use Revenge!" Bouffalant waited for Chimchar to attack, wanting to build up the damage Revenge did.

"Chimchar use Ember again; stay well away!" Chimchar spat fire from where he was standing and it hit Bouffalant. Bouffalant however didn't appear fazed; he ran forward through the fire and slammed his body into Chimchar. Chimchar flew into the air and crashed to the ground in a cloud of dust. Bouffalant stood triumphantly before his master.

"It's all over now, pretty mech." Cliffjumper sounded smug. However he quickly seemed shocked when the dust cleared and Chimchar was still standing, surrounded by fire.

"Chimchar use Flame Wheel! Let's finish this!" Chimchar jumped and rolled and fire began to swirl around him. He rolled towards Bouffalant and collided with him. Bouffalant hit the ground and didn't get up.

"Bouffalant is unable to battle! The winner is the Gym Leader, Knock Out!"

"Bouffalant return." Cliffjumper then looked grumpily at the Gym Leader. He also saw his Chimchar was jumping up and down with glee.

"I'll get you next time." And with that he walked off in a sulky mood.

"Cliffjumper! Wait up!" Mirage shouted from the stands.

"You didn't see that, did you Mirage?" Cliffjumper hoped not.

"Unfortunately, yes. You didn't need to be as nasty to Knock Out, he wasn't nasty to you."

"I don't need to be lectured Mirage. And you mean he hasn't been nasty _yet_."

"Why would he be nasty to you?"

"Because we just don't get on, alright." Cliffjumper walked off out the door with that and Mirage followed.

"Right, now to see if that dust actually did any damage…"

"You're worse than Sunstreaker, Knocks! Why are you two so bothered about if you get a bit mucky?"

"Sideswipe! I am not that bad!" Sunstreaker shouted back at his twin.

"Come on Chimchar, Let's go and get you rested up too. Professor Perceptor informs me that we are likely to be receiving the person he asked for help soon."

"Hey! Knock Out!" Ash shouted at him from the stands. Knock Out looked around and saw a boy in the stands shouting and waving at him.

"Yes. What is it?"

"You said you were likely to be receiving the person Perceptor asked for help soon. Well, I'm here now!"

"You?! Err… You want to challenge me?" Knock Out looked and sounded confused.

"Of course I do! I came all the way from Kanto to challenge this League!" Ash was hoping that Knock Out had enough Pokémon to challenge him; Chimchar looked badly hurt from the last battle.

"You'll have to wait; I need to heal my Pokémon." Knock Out was about to walk off to heal his Pokémon when a Chansey waddled up to where he was and healed Chimchar.

"Chansey! What are you doing?" Brock ran towards Chansey who was healing Pokémon without asking again.

"This is your Chansey?"

"Yes, Knock Out." Brock sounded nervous.

"You should keep her on a leash, Chimchar might have attacked her. But besides that thank you for having her heal my Pokémon." Knock Out then turned to face Ash.

"Would you like to challenge me…?" Knock Out paused hoping Ash would say his name.

"Yes! I'd love to!" Ash answered.

"Fine then, let us arrange this battle!" Sideswipe shouted. Knock Out moved to one end of the arena and Ash stood at the other.

"This battle will be between…" Sunstreaker paused and Sideswipe asked Ash.

"What is your name challenger?"

"Ash."

"This battle will be between Ash, the Challenger and Knock Out, the Gym Leader. It will be a two on two battle and it will be over when all Pokémon used by one side can no longer battle." Sunstreaker then said.

"Gym Leader, choose your Pokémon!" Sideswipe shouted.

"Alright! Vulpix let's go!" Knock Out called out a fiery fox.

"Challenger, choose your Pokémon!" Sunstreaker told Ash.

"Staraptor, I choose you!" Ash sent out his predatory bird Pokémon.

"Looks like it's Staraptor vs. Vulpix to start the battle." Sunstreaker called out to the battlers.

"Let the battle begin!" Both twins called out.

"Aerial Ace, Staraptor!" Staraptor swooped up into the sky, and then began to fly in a straight line towards Vulpix.

"Jump over him Vulpix!" Vulpix did as his master told and Staraptor missed.

"Now use Flamethrower!" Vulpix spat a stream of fire at Staraptor's tail. Staraptor didn't like the stream of flames hitting it so flew higher into the air to get out of the way.

"Use Brave Bird!" Staraptor swooped down, cloaked in a blue glow and slammed into Vulpix, who was knocked into the air. A few sparks jolted Staraptor but it seemed ok afterwards.

"Use Confuse Ray, Vulpix!" Vulpix's eyes glowed with an eerie light purple and Staraptor seemed surprised at the look Vulpix was giving it. _Star?_ Staraptor fluttered back down towards the ground.

"Staraptor use Close Combat!" Staraptor seemed to know what that was and flew towards Vulpix. It then used its talons to pound Vulpix. The amount of hits combined with the strength of them made Vulpix collapse.

"Vulpix is unable to battle!" Sunstreaker sounded surprised that Vulpix fainted so quickly.

"Vulpix return." Knock Out paused to think about something. _Should I use…? No! She never listens to a word I tell her! I'll have to use Chimchar._

"Go Chimchar!" Knock Out summoned his fire monkey.

"Why'd that take so long?" Sideswipe whispered to Sunstreaker.

"I'm guessing he was considering using _that_ Pokémon."

"I hope not! That Pokémon doesn't listen to him!" Sideswipe said quietly back to his twin.

"Are you two quite finished?" Knock Out looked at them crossly.

"Err… Yes Knocks."

"Right then, Chimchar use Flame Wheel!" Chimchar jumped and flipped in the air and when he landed a wheel of fire was spinning around him, propelling him towards Staraptor.

"Staraptor dodge it!" Staraptor appeared transfixed by the flames, unable to move and it ignored Ash's command.

"Finally! I was beginning to think the Confuse Ray didn't work!" Just as Knock Out spoke, Chimchar slammed into Staraptor and Staraptor fell down. Chimchar flipped back across the arena towards his master and he noticed that Staraptor had swirls in its eyes.

"Staraptor is unable to battle!" Sideswipe called out feeling slightly more confident now.

"Staraptor return." Ash returned his bird Pokémon back to its pokéball.

"You did good Staraptor. Go Buizel!" Buizel appeared and looked smugly at Chimchar, motioning his paw in a 'come and get me' way.

"Buizel use Water Gun!" _Bui-Bui-BUIZ!_ Buizel shot a stream of water at Chimchar who seemed quite surprised. Chimchar shook of the last drops of water when the stream subsided.

"Chimchar use Scratch!" Knock Out was feeling rather nervous now; Chimchar didn't know any moves that would help against a water type. Chimchar ran forward, not picking up on his master's nervousness at all and scratched his claws across Buizel's stomach.

"Buizel use Water Pulse!" Buizel collected a ball of water in paws as Chimchar jumped back across the arena to his master. Just as Chimchar landed the last jump, the ball of water slammed into his back and he was thrown up into the air. Chimchar landed back on his feet but wobbled a bit; he'd taken a lot of damage from those attacks. Suddenly, Chimchar began to glow with a reddish aura.

"Chimchar use Flame Wheel!" Knock Out hoped that Chimchar didn't take another hit; that had to be his Blaze ability. Chimchar didn't get hit by any attacks while he swirled towards Buizel and he managed to collide and knock Buizel backwards.

"Are you ok Buizel?" Ash asked hoping Buizel answered and didn't collapse. _Bui! Bui!_ Buizel answered his master as if saying 'I can still win this!'

"Buizel, Aqua Jet!" Buizel jumped into the air and began to spin the Aqua Jet around this time, so it looked more like a drill made out of water.

"Chimchar dodge it!" But Chimchar looked scared of the swirling water and didn't seem to hear his master. Buizel collided with Chimchar and he fell to the ground with swirls in his eyes.

"Chimchar is unable to battle! That means the winner is Ash!" Sideswipe happily announced.

"Well done Buizel!" Ash went and hugged Buizel for winning the battle. _Bui…_ Buizel looked slightly confused. Meanwhile Knock Out walked onto the arena and picked up Chimchar.

"Don't worry Chimchar, you tried your best." _Chim…_ Chimchar still sounded disappointed.

"If it makes you feel any better, I think you almost beat that water type!" Chimchar looked slightly happier at that and jumped down onto the floor next to his master.

"Now, we'd better give Ash the gym badge." Knock Out began walking over to where Ash was and then spoke to his helpers.

"Sideswipe, or Sunstreaker since I never did find out which of you actually carries the gym badges, present Ash with the Star Badge." Sunstreaker pulled out a badge from somewhere and gave it to Ash.

"Here you go. This is proof that you won at this gym." Sunstreaker looked amusedly at Knock Out, still struggling to believe he lost.

"Yes! I just won… the Star Badge!" Ash called out. _Pi-Pikachu! Bui-Bui! Star-Raptor!_ Ash's Pokémon sounded like they were cheering too.

"Well done Ash." Brock congratulated him. However just as this was happening an explosion could be seen coming from the doorway and two shadowy figures stepped out from the cloud of smoke.

"Who dares to attack my gym?" Knock Out shouted angrily at the intruders.

**AN: Cruel Cliff-hanger! I wonder who these two intruders are… You'll have to wait until next chapter to find out! And the same goes for the Pokémon Knocks was debating whether or not to use. The reason that the Decepticons are being nice to people should become apparent next chapter as well. Knock Out's Vulpix and Cliffjumper's Bouffalant both are based on my own.**


	5. Sharks and Sludge

"Who dares to attack my gym?" Knock Out shouted angrily at the intruders.

"We do." A loud angry voice shouted back and the owner of that voice stepped out of the cloud of smoke. Ash looked nervous at what stood before them. There were two shark-like robots stood before them who were mostly black and dark grey with two arms and legs where the lower fins should be and a wrecking ball tail. These didn't stay like that long however; they morphed into something similar to the other Transformers that they had met.

"Rexian ordered us to collect any Pokémon we could get hold of from Polyhex and we decided we'd take yours."

"Well that's not going to happen!" Ash stepped forward now unafraid of the sharks.

"We'll stop you!" Misty, Brock and May stepped forward beside Ash.

"Go Grimer!" Both of the sharks sent out Pokémon that looked like pools of poison with arms and faces.

"Use Sludge!" Both of the Grimer shot sludge out of their mouths but they didn't seem interested in Ash and the others. They fired the sludge towards the Gym Leader instead!

"What the? Ahhh!" Knock Out quickly jumped out of the way and stared angrily back at the Grimer. Both Grimer laughed at him; he did look funny jumping out of the way of the Sludge.

"Oh, you think that's funny do you? I'll show both of you why you don't try to Sludge my paintjob!" Knock Out pulled out a different pokéball to the others he'd used before.

"Go Numel!" A Pokémon that looked a bit like a camel appeared.

"Numel use Earth Power!" Numel looked at Knock Out as if to say 'you're the one who is supposed to tell me what to do?' Numel sat down on the ground ignoring her master; she'd decided here was a good place for a nap!

"Come on Numel! Attack the Grimer!" Numel wasn't listening though and had closed her eyes to go to sleep.

"Why does that Numel not listen to Knock Out?" Dawn asked Sideswipe.

"His friend gave it to him and I think it needs a big strong master like Breakdown to keep it in line.

"You mean Numel doesn't listen to Knock Out because she doesn't think Knock Out is a worthy master?" Max asked.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Sunstreaker sniggered thinking about that; even Pokémon could tell Knock Out wasn't very strong! Meanwhile Ash, Brock, Misty and May had sent out some Pokémon to stop the sharks from stealing Knock Out's Pokémon.

"Go Pikachu!" Pikachu jumped down from Ash's shoulder, looking ready to fight.

"Go Starmie!" Misty called out her faithful starfish Pokémon.

"Go Sudowoodo!" Brock's tree-like Pokémon appeared.

"Go Skitty!" May's pink kitten appeared.

"Go Carvanha!" Both of the shark-like robots called out a vicious red fish. Ash and Misty moved to battle one of the sharks, Brock and May the other.

"Pikachu use Quick Attack on Grimer!" Pikachu ran forward towards Grimer at a really fast pace; too fast for Grimer to dodge. Grimer didn't seem too fazed by the hit though.

"Grimer use Disable!" The shark commanded. Grimer glared at Pikachu and Pikachu didn't feeling like using Quick Attack for a while.

"Starmie use Psychic on Grimer!" A blue light surrounded Grimer that seemed to be coming from the jewel in the centre of Starmie. Grimer was lifted up into the air and slammed into the ceiling then the light drove Grimer downwards into the floor. Grimer struggled back up after the hit.

"Carvanha use Crunch on Starmie!" Starmie felt the sharp teeth of Carvanha dig into one of its points, before it let go and hopped back towards its master.

"Starmie use Confusion on Grimer!" Starmie's jewel glowed with an eerie purple light this time. Grimer was lifted into the air. He waved his hands about as if trying to grab the floor but it was no use. After a short time, Grimer started to fall as the light disappeared from around him. When he hit the ground he had swirls in his eyes.

"Grimer return. Use Scary Face, Carvanha!" Carvanha glared at both Pikachu and Starmie. Pikachu visibly flinched at the glare, Starmie didn't seem affected but its speed had been lowered too.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" _PIKA…CHUUUUUUUUUUUU! _Pikachu sent a bolt of electricity at Carvanha who wobbled a bit after being hit by that.

"Carvanha use Rage!" Carvanha hopped towards Pikachu and ran its sharp tail fin along Pikachu's stomach. _Pika…_ Pikachu was knocked backwards from the force of the hit.

"Are you ok Pikachu?" Ash was relieved when Pikachu answered with a _Pika_ to show he was ok.

"Starmie use Hydro Pump!" A strong stream of water shot out of the top most point of Starmie, straight at Carvanha. He might have been a water type but the stream of water knocked him out; he'd taken a lot of damage from the Thunderbolt.

"Carvanha return." The shark said.

Meanwhile…

"Sudowoodo use Double Edge!" Sudowoodo ran forward with as much force as it could muster and slammed into Grimer, hard. Grimer wobbled a bit, but Sudowoodo didn't seem fazed at all.

"Grimer use Sludge, Carvanha use Crunch!" Grimer spat a stream of sludge at the enemies. Sudowoodo and Skitty got hit quite hard but not all of the Sludge hit them, some of it landed on the sleeping Numel. Numel's eyes opened and looked for the Pokémon that did that; she wanted revenge! Carvanha meanwhile had dodged around the sludge and had clamped his teeth down on Skitty's tail.

"Skitty use Assist!" May's Skitty padded her paws on the ground and chose a move to use. And she shot a few shards of ice at Carvanha who let her go quite quickly; those shards hurt!

"Sudowoodo use Rock Throw!" Sudowoodo produced a rock from somewhere and flung it at Grimer. Grimer didn't like being hit with a rock but couldn't do much about it; he collapsed from the damage.

"Grimer return. Carvanha use Rage!" Carvanha almost swam through the air and sliced his tail fin across Sudowoodo. Sudowoodo fell down from the damage it had taken.

"Sudowoodo return. I hope you can win this May. I don't how Ash and Misty are doing."

"Don't worry Brock; me and Skitty can win this. Skitty use Pound!" Skitty bounded forward and punched Carvanha with one of her front paws. Carvanha reeled a little from the hit but didn't seem too badly hurt.

"Carvanha use Rage!" Carvanha swam through the air but he didn't aim for Skitty; he aimed for Numel! Carvanha sliced his tail fin across Numel's back and then swam off; completely unaware of the angry glare Numel gave him. Numel stood up at that point and angrily roared _NUMEL!_ And, with that, Numel stamped her feet on the ground angrily, causing the ground to shake, as well as making Ash and the others all look around. The ground shook more violently now and could be felt by both Carvanha and Skitty. The shaking eventually came to a stop but when May and the shark looked, both Carvanha and Skitty were collapsed on the ground with swirls in their eyes. May walked forward and picked up her Skitty.

"Carvanha return." This shark looked at the other one and then both of them quickly said.

"Let's get out of here before that Numel goes after us!" and both of them ran off towards to the door. But just before they got out of the door one of them shouted back.

"This isn't the last you'll see of us! Just you wait!" The two sharks were then no longer in the gym.

"Well, what do you know; Numel actually can use moves!"

"Just not when you needed her to…" Sunstreaker reminded his gym leader.

"Who or what were those things?" Max asked, hoping one of the Transformers would know.

"Those were Sharkticons and they've been bothering us for a while now." Knock Out answered Max.

"Them and their Allicon companions." Sideswipe looked annoyed about them.

"Which way leads towards the next gym?" Ash seemed not to be bothered about the subject.

"You could go either of the two other ways, but I'd recommend going to Praxus next."

"Which way is that?" Misty hoped it didn't involve going up that metallic mountain that they'd noticed.

"You'd have to head through the cave that leads to the top of Dark Mountain then head down the other side to get to Praxus." Knock Out had to try not to snigger when he saw Misty's face fall at the thought of climbing the mountain.

"Right, we'll go there next! Come on guys let's go!" Ash walked towards the door and the rest of the group followed him, some of them more willing than others.

**AN: Dark Mountain is from Transformers but it's not quite called that… And the Decepticons are being nice because there is a common enemy for all the Transformers and the Autobots and Decepticons are NOT at war. The Carvanhas and Grimers that the Sharkticons had were both based on my Grimer and my Carvanha. Knock Out's Numel was based on my Camerupt.**


	6. From Hunter to Hunted!

"How much further do we have to go?" Misty whined; she hadn't wanted to climb the mountain in the first place but Ash had decided that was the way they were going.

"It shouldn't be that much further now…" Brock tried to reassure her.

"I think that's the cave exit! We must be near the peak!" Dawn pointed and the others could also see light coming around the corner. Ash started to run towards the corner and the others followed him around and out of the cave exit.

"Phew… We made it…" May sounded slightly out of breath; they'd been walking quite quickly to get out of the cave. They all heard ominous laughing and suddenly all looked around, to find where it was coming from.

"Did you hear that?" Max moved away from where he thought it might have come from.

"That creepy laughter you mean? Yes I did…" Dawn moved away from the cave door as well.

"Let's hurry up and get to the peak!" Ash walked quickly up the path way leading to the peak of the mountain. The others followed him but they all came to a stop quite quickly when they saw something stood there. It looked like an egg with a face attached to it near the wider end, with thin tentacles coming out of it near the narrower end.

"Err… Hello there… Do you know the way to Praxus?" Ash asked the creature before him nervously.

"You won't be getting to Praxus…" The round face that looked like it had a golden crown on its head spun around the creature's body and was replaced with a green one with sharp teeth sticking out of its mouth.

"At least not with any of your Pokémon." The green face answered.

"What do you mean by that?" Misty asked starting to get angry.

"I am Rexian of the Quintessons and I challenge all of you to a battle." The green face spun around Rexian's head and was replaced with an angry looking red one with spikes protruding from it.

"And when I win the battle you will be forced to give all of your Pokémon to me!" Rexian sounded confident in his abilities.

"You can't do that! I won't let you!" Ash shouted at the Quintesson.

"Max, stay over there and watch for anyone sneaking up behind us." May told her brother before stepping forward alongside Ash, Brock, Misty and Dawn to challenge the Quintesson. Max looked around and was almost certain he saw three pairs of glowing eyes in the bushes, two red and one purple, but thought they didn't seem a threat and stood away from the battle field.

"Go Garbodor, Muk and Gengar!" Rexian sent out a Pokémon that looked like a purple cat with eerie red eyes, a Pokémon that looked like a large pile of sludge and the third one looked like a mound of rubbish with creepy white eyes. Ash looked up Garbodor on his Pokédex.

"_Garbodor, the Trash Heap Pokémon. They absorb garbage and make it part of their bodies. They shoot a poisonous liquid from their right-hand fingertips._"

"Alright, Gliscor I choose you!" Ash's flying scorpion Pokémon appeared.

"Go Staryu!" Misty sent out her golden starfish Pokémon.

"Go Croagunk!" Croagunk slowly inflated his cheek pouches and then deflated them again.

"Munchlax, take the stage!" Munchlax seemed quite happy to battle.

"Pachirisu, spotlight!" _Chi-Pachi-Pachi-Pa!_ Pachirisu happily cried.

"Muk use Mud Bomb on Croagunk, Garbodor use Acid Spray on Staryu, Gengar use Shadow Ball on Gliscor!" Muk threw a large ball of mud at Croagunk who cried out in shock at being hit. Croagunk wobbled a bit from being hit. Garbodor shot acid from its right hand, straight at Staryu; who was very lucky not get hurt any worse than it did. The Shadow Ball from Gengar made Gliscor wobble around on his tail.

"Munchlax use Body Slam!" Munchlax ran forward and slammed its body into Garbodor as hard as it could. Garbodor didn't seem at all fazed by the hit!

"Watch out guys! That Garbodor is really strong!" May called to the others.

"Croagunk, Brick Break on Muk!" Croagunk jumped into the air and brought his hand down hard onto Muk's head. Muk looked up at Croagunk as if to say 'was that supposed to hurt?'

"Pachirisu, Discharge!" Pachirisu ran forward towards Rexian's Pokémon and then sent out an electric charge at all of them. Only Muk visibly flinched at the shock; it seemed that Brick Break did more damage than he tried to let on.

"Gliscor, Aerial Ace on Muk!" Gliscor sprang off the ground using his tail and flew at Muk really quickly. Muk again looked stunned slightly by the hit.

"Staryu use Water Gun on Garbodor!" Staryu shot water from the top most point at Garbodor, he didn't seem to like it and waved his arms to try and shift the water.

"Muk use Sludge Wave!" Muk waved both of his arms and a poisonous tidal wave formed in front of him. He then pointed his hands at the other Pokémon. Croagunk shrugged off the hit but the others seemed badly hurt.

"Gliscor use X-Scissor on Gengar!" Gliscor flew up into the air again, with aid from his tail and then moved his arms across his body forming an x shape in the air. Gliscor's claws then collided with Gengar, who slid backwards a little from the force of the hit.

"Gengar hit that scorpion with Payback!" Gengar sprang into the air and swung a fist into Gliscor's stomach. Gliscor wavered a little but managed to land safely.

"Staryu use Confusion!" Staryu's jewel began to glow with a purple light and it lifted Muk into the air using it. The Muk waved his hands around; trying to grab the ground. Muk floated up into the air for a few seconds then fell back to the ground with a thud. Muk brought himself back up.

"Munchlax use Tackle!" Munchlax ran forward towards Garbodor; getting ready to slam him again.

"Garbodor use Sludge Bomb!" Garbodor flung a ball of sludge at Munchlax and Munchlax fell backwards because of the hit. It didn't get up from that.

"No, Munchlax!" May returned her Munchlax to its pokéball.

"You guys need to win this…" May sounded worried.

"That shouldn't be a problem May. Pachirisu use Hyper Fang on Garbodor!" Pachirisu ran forwards and its teeth appeared to lengthen.

"Croagunk use Poison Jab on Garbodor too!" Croagunk ran forward with a poison covered fist ready to strike.

"Garbodor use Gunk Shot!" A stream of gunk that looked like it might have come from inside Garbodor was fired from Garbodor's left hand. The stream of gunk stopped both Pachirisu and Croagunk in their tracks but the strength of the shot was too much for Pachirisu; who collapsed with swirls in its eyes.

"Pachirisu return." Dawn sounded disappointed.

"Staryu use Hydro Pump on Garbodor!" Staryu took aim at Garbodor but was spooked by Gengar jumping up next to it.

"Gengar use Shadow Punch!" Gengar swung its shadow cloaked fist at Staryu, who collapsed from the strength of the hit.

"Staryu return…" Misty hoped that Ash and Brock could win the battle.

"Croagunk use Brick Break on Muk!" Croagunk ran forward and got his fist ready to hit Muk. Surprisingly Muk didn't do anything to stop Croagunk and Croagunk's paw collided hard with Muk. Muk winced a little; he was starting to get low on health.

"Muk use Mud Bomb!" Croagunk couldn't jump out of the way before the mud collided with him. Croagunk collapsed from all the damage he'd taken.

"Croagunk!" Brock sounded worried and returned Croagunk to his pokéball.

"Ash, you can win this right?" Dawn sounded worried as well.

"I hope so Dawn. Gliscor use Giga Impact!" Gliscor jumped into the air and a purple vortex began to swirl around it as it came back down. Gliscor collided with Gengar really hard. Gliscor then flew off upwards to try and get out of the way while it recharged after that powerful attack. Max thought he heard someone calling out a Pokémon from the bushes but the voice sounded so quiet he assumed he was imagining things.

"Gengar use Shadow Ball!" Gengar threw a ball of shadows at Gliscor and because Gliscor couldn't move very fast Gliscor got hit and fell to the ground. When the cloud of dust cleared Gliscor had swirls in its eyes.

"No…" Ash couldn't believe it, this Quintesson had beaten him and now…

"Now you have to hand over your Pokémon." Rexian sounded smug about the win; he'd just got himself a very strong Gliscor and a bunch of other Pokémon to go with it. Max walked back over to join the others, also unable to believe what he was seeing. _I hope there is someone or someones in those bushes we could use some help right about now…_

"Galvantula use Electroweb!" A female voice called from the bushes. A spider web cloaked in electricity flew from inside the bushes and slammed into Muk, who collapsed from all the damage he'd taken.

"Grr… Muk return. Who dares interrupt my obtaining of Pokémon?" Rexian glared at the bushes.

"You know I'm getting sick of trying to deal with you Quints; there are so many more criminals I need to hunt down." A male voice answered.

"Show yourself coward!" Rexian screeched; he was annoyed by the someones hiding in the bushes. A trio of Transformers walked out from the bushes, one of them followed by a yellow spider. Ash looked up the spider on his Pokédex.

"_Galvantula, the EleSpider Pokémon. They employ an electrically charged web to trap their prey. While it is immobilized by shock, they leisurely consume it._"

"Right then, let's deal with this Quint. Go Crawdaunt!" A green coloured mech with a hook for one of his hands sent out a mean looking crawfish with a star on its forehead.

"Ready Galvantula?" A black and silver spider like femme asked her Pokémon. _Galvan!_ Galvantula replied.

"Let's go Ninetales!" Another spider like femme, black and gold this time, sent out a pretty golden coloured fox.

"I'll defeat you and claim all your Pokémon!" Rexian seemed confident in his abilities.

"Not likely. Galvantula use Electro Ball!" Galvantula charged a ball of electricity between her two front legs and then fired it at Garbodor. Garbodor shivered from the hit.

"Garbodor use Gunk Shot on Galvantula!" Garbodor's left hand fired another stream of gunk at Galvantula this time.

"Ninetales use Flamethrower to stop that attack!" Ninetales spat a stream of fire at the gunk stream and both dispersed.

"Crawdaunt use Night Slash on Gengar!" Crawdaunt ran forwards toward Gengar. One of its claws looked like it was covered in shadows. Crawdaunt sliced its claw across Gengar and Gengar winced from the damage it took.

"Gengar use Payback on Crawdaunt!" Gengar slammed its fist into Crawdaunt who didn't appear to even be fazed by that.

"Ninetales, Fire Spin on Gengar!" Ninetales began to swirl flames around herself and then transferred the swirling vortex of flames around Gengar who looked scared. The flames then began to strike at Gengar who cried out with each hit. Eventually the flames disappeared and Gengar collapsed from the damage he'd taken.

"Gengar return. You won't defeat Garbodor so easily! Garbodor use Sludge!" Garbodor shot a stream of sludge towards the enemies.

"Ninetales jump over it!"

"You too Galvantula!" Galvantula and Ninetales both jumped up and over the stream of Sludge but Crawdaunt got hit.

"Galvantula use Signal Beam!" Galvantula shot a brightly coloured beam from her eyes at Garbodor. Garbodor didn't seem too badly hurt by Signal Beam. The black and gold femme and the green mech shared a look. They both had a plan!

"Ninetales use Quick Attack!"

"Crawdaunt use Bubblebeam!" Crawdaunt fired the bubbles towards Ninetales but instead of colliding they began to follow behind Ninetales as she ran. Just before Ninetales collided with Garbodor she jumped over his head and then slammed into his back with the force from her Quick Attack. This also pushed Garbodor into the stream of bubbles, the force of which knocked him out.

"You were saying?" The black and silver femme asked the Quintesson.

"Grr… Garbodor return. You might have beaten me this time but the Quintessons will reclaim Cybertron!" Rexian than ran off down the mountain leaving Ash and the others in awe of the three Transformers that helped them. Especially one…

"Wow! Not only are you the most beautiful girl I've ever met you're an amazing battler and I'd love to… Ahhh!" Brock started to go all gaga over the black and gold femme when the mech picked him up by his shirt collar using the hook.

"Listen here you! That's my girlfriend! Leave her alone!"

"Aw… Lockdown let him down. As cute as it is you defending me like that; you don't need to scare the guy…" The femme's word seemed to calm Lockdown as let Brock slide back down to the ground.

"Brock is right in one sense; all of you are amazing battlers…" Max hoped the two female Transformers would introduce themselves.

"Ash, don't you think we should be going towards Praxus?" Misty asked impatiently.

"Wait… You're Ash?" Lockdown thought that Ash would have been the boy with brown hair.

"Yes."

"You're the one that Knock Out has been telling us about? Good job on beating him by the way, kid."

"Who are your friends Ash?"

"Airachnid stop interrupting!"

"It's ok Lockdown. This is Brock," Ash pointed to the boy with brown hair "Misty," Ash pointed to the girl with orange hair "May," Ash pointed to the girl with brown hair "Max" Ash pointed to the boy with dark green hair "and Dawn." Ash pointed to the girl with blue hair.

"And since my sweet heart didn't tell you, I'm Black Airachnia." The black and gold femme said.

"Where are you lot headed?"

"Praxus was the next gym I decided to go to."

"That's where the Quint was going!" Airachnid sounded worried.

"Unusual to see a Quint at Dark Mount though…" Ash and the others looked confusedly at Lockdown.

"Dark Mount? Don't you mean Dark Mountain?" Max asked.

"Dark Mount is what most of us call it." Lockdown explained. While Ash, Max and Brock were busy listening to this the girls had wandered off to talk to the femmes.

"I can't picture you two together for some reason." Misty couldn't help thinking that Black Airachnia would have been better off with someone else.

"He might look all mean and nasty on the outside but he's a real sweet heart!" All of them couldn't help thinking 'really?' but then they saw how serious Black Airachnia looked and accepted it now thinking it was cute.

"Aw… I wouldn't mind that sort of a boyfriend either." Misty then thought better of it.

"Since we were going to Praxus anyway." Lockdown spoke loudly enough so that all of them would listen to him.

"Would you mind if we travelled there with you?"

"I don't see any problem with that." Ash began to walk towards the slope and the rest of them followed.

**AN: LockdownxBlackAirachnia = very random pairing… Anyways I thought those three could be good guys (and gals) for a change… on separate note Rexian's Garbodor and Gengar, Black Airachnia's Ninetales and Airachnid's Galvantula are based on my own.**


	7. Ninjas in the Woods

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Ash looked confused; he was sure he'd come this way before.

"We came down Dark Mount via the path not the cave; so we must be going towards Praxus."

"Airachnid, do you need to be so rude?" Misty sounded slightly annoyed; it was her job to annoy Ash!

"No, I don't; but Ash asked a stupid question, so I gave him a flippant answer."

"Guys! Do you hear that?" Brock thought he heard two people squabbling about something are other.

"It sounds like a battle is going on." Black Airachnia was trying to work out where it was coming from. Everyone could then hear shouts coming from a clearing in the woods. They all ran towards the clearing and then saw a black and gold mech fighting with a white and black one. The mostly black one was fighting with what looked like large throwing stars and the mostly white one was fighting using nunchakus.

"Cool! Robo-Ninjas!" Max exclaimed.

"I'm not sure they should be fighting though…" May looked worried; those star-like weapons looked sharp.

"I'll see if they can hear us May." Brock then turned to the Transformers who were fighting.

"Hey! What caused you to fight?" The two mechs stopped fighting and looked at the boy who was shouting at them.

"What did you tell them to stop for?" Airachnid looked disappointedly at Brock.

"They weren't fighting. They were practising." Black Airachnia told the rest of the group.

"If that is practise, then I'd hate to see a real fight!" Misty was even more in awe now.

"I used to be able to do things like that." Airachnid stared at Lockdown.

"You? Really? No way!" Airachnid still looked incredulously at him but when she saw how serious he looked she got the impression he was telling the truth.

"Lockdown speaks the truth." Everyone looked around at a white and gold mech who stepped out from behind where the two others were fighting.

"Master Yoketron!" Lockdown knelt down and Airachnid gave him another incredulous look. _That ruffian actually bows before someone? I guess he's not as rough as I thought…_

"Good to see you remember our master." The black and gold mech sounded annoyed with Lockdown for some reason.

"Hey, what's up Locky?" The white and black mech seemed relatively pleased to see him.

"Nice to see you too Prowl." Lockdown spoke first to the black and gold mech.

"And nothing much is up Jazz." Then to the white and black mech.

"What's this I've been hearing about your attempts at wooing a femme then?" Lockdown went silent; Jazz knew just how to annoy him.

"That is not open for discussion!"

"If you want to know, I'll tell you about it later." Black Airachnia whispered to Dawn.

"So instead of completing your cyber-ninja training, you went gallivanting after some femme?" Prowl couldn't seem to believe it either.

"I told you why I left for a while; I wanted to explore the region a little, the finding a femme just kind of happened…"

"Completing your Cyber-Ninja training should have been more important. You could have travelled this region, or any others, afterwards." Yoketron spoke in a voice that you couldn't really argue with.

"Can I not continue my training where I left off?" Lockdown hoped so; it did take him a long time to get up to the level he was at.

"I believe your skills will have gotten rather rusty due to the length of time you've been away. So the best course of action would be to begin your training again."

"No! There's got to be something I could do!"

"I have an idea."

"Do tell us Jazz." Lockdown looked annoyed with him for mentioning the girlfriend thing earlier.

"You could battle Master Yoketron to decide your 'fate'." Jazz wiggled two of his fingers near his head when he said fate.

"What do you mean?" Lockdown looked confused.

"Well, if you win you continue your training where you left off. But if Master Yoketron wins then you'll have to begin your training again, from the start."

"That sounds fair enough." Lockdown hoped Yoketron agreed; Yoketron didn't really like violence, and so wouldn't have a very violent Pokémon.

"I also agree to these terms. Would you like to battle alongside me, Prowl and Jazz?"

"It would be an honour, sir." Prowl bowed before standing beside his master.

"I don't mind, master." Jazz walked up next to the other two.

"Do I have to challenge all of you by myself?"

"No. You are permitted to choose two allies to fight alongside you."

"Fine. Black Airachnia, Airachnid come and help me."

"I'm not helping if this is one of those ninja fights." Airachnid looked cross with him for suggesting this.

"You could have a Pokémon battle instead." Ash suggested.

"If this means that your chosen allies can fight alongside you in a fair battle, then I see no problem with it." Yoketron sounded pleased; he didn't really want to fight either of the femmes.

"Fine I'll battle alongside you." Airachnid went and stood next to Lockdown.

"I'll help you too." Black Airachnia also stood beside Lockdown.

"Can I referee?" Ash sounded excited.

"Of course you may." Yoketron answered politely.

"All of you, take your places!" Ash called happily. Misty, May, Max, Brock and Dawn sat down near the edge of the clearing; so there was space for the battle. Yoketron, Jazz and Prowl stood at one side of the clearing, Lockdown, Black Airachnia and Airachnid stood at the other; with Ash standing opposite Brock and in the middle of the two trios of battlers.

"Right, this will be a three on three battle and it will be over when all three Pokémon on one team can no longer battle. Choose your Pokémon!" Ash was still very excited.

"Fine then! Mightyena go!" Lockdown chose a large Pokémon that looked like a wolf.

"Dustox let's go!" Black Airachnia used a moth like Pokémon.

"Ariados go!" Airachnid sent out a red spider Pokémon.

"Chatot, ready to rock!" Jazz chose a small brightly coloured bird Pokémon whose head looked like a musical note.

"Ninjask, I choose you!" Prowl sent out his dragonfly like Pokémon.

"Go Musharna." Yoketron sent out a purple Pokémon that floated in the air. Ash checked it on his Pokédex.

"_Musharna, the Drowsing Pokémon. With the mist from its forehead, it can create shapes of things from dreams it has eaten._"

"Alright then! Let the battle begin!" Ash shouted excitedly.

"Dustox use Gust on Ninjask!" Dustox flapped her wings and blew a small typhoon at Ninjask.

"Ninjask dodge, then use Swords Dance!" Ninjask swooped out of the typhoon's way and it blew itself out after it missed the intended target. A sword that appeared to be made of light appeared in Ninjask's claw and Ninjask began to wave it around in a sort of dance.

"Mightyena use Swagger on Ninjask!" Mightyena walked towards Ninjask with a swagger in his step and Ninjask's attack went up even further. But Ninjask was now seeing stars swirling around his head in confusion.

"Chatot, Mirror Move on Mightyena!" Chatot walked along with a sort of swagger in his step as he walked towards Mightyena. Mightyena's attack went up a bit and then Mightyena could see stars swirling around his head in confusion too.

"Ariados use Leech Life on Musharna!" Ariados scuttled forward and then sunk her teeth into one of Musharna's front paws. Musharna cried out in pain as health was drained from it.

"Musharna use Psywave on Ariados." Musharna sent a wave of psychic energy at Ariados and at that range there was no way it could miss. Ariados was flung backwards with the waves of energy. Ariados managed to stand up but was clearly badly hurt by the psychic powers.

"Dustox use Psybeam on Ninjask!" A rainbow coloured beam of light shot out of Dustox's eyes at Ninjask. Ninjask may have been confused but he quickly flew out of the way; due to the Speed Boost ability that he had.

"Chatot use Mirror Move on Dustox!" Chatot shot a beam of rainbow coloured light from his mouth and it knocked Dustox back with the force of the hit.

"Musharna use Zen Headbutt on Dustox." Musharna's head began to glow with an eerie light and she charged at Dustox. The collision knocked Dustox high into the air and Dustox fell down to the ground with swirls in her eyes.

"No! Dustox return." Black Airachnia thought Dustox was stronger than that.

"Ariados use Fury Swipes on Chatot!" Ariados scuttled forward and slashed one of her front claws over Chatot then the other. Once. Twice. Three times. Chatot squawked in pain.

"Mightyena use Assurance on Chatot!" A black fist that seemed to be made of shadows appeared beside Mightyena and this fist flung itself at Chatot. The blow knocked him out.

"Aw man! Chatot return." Jazz hoped that Mightyena would hit himself but the confusion didn't seem to be affecting him.

"Ninjask use Fury Swipes on Mightyena!" Ninjask fluttered forward and swung his claws completely missing Mightyena. However a couple of the five sets of swipes that Ninjask did hit the intended target.

"How did that miss? Fury Swipes has a really good hit ratio." Max looked confusedly at the others; hoping one of the could explain.

"I think it must be something to do with the fact Ninjask is confused. Maybe he thought Mightyena was there." Brock explained .

"Ariados use Leech Life on Musharna!" Ariados bit her teeth into Musharna's paw again. Musharna shook Ariados hard with her paw and quickly flung Ariados off.

"Mightyena use Crunch on Ninjask!" Mightyena bit his teeth down hard onto Ninjask's back. Ninjask collapsed from the damage he had taken.

"Ninjask return." Prowl sounded disappointed.

"Are you sure you can win this battle Master?" Prowl spoke quietly; so Lockdown didn't hear him.

"I believe so Prowl. Musharna may only know psychic type moves but she is very strong and Lockdown will slip up at some point." Yoketron answered Prowl and then turned to his Pokémon.

"Musharna use Psybeam on Ariados." Musharna fired a beam of rainbow coloured light at Ariados who shielded her eyes against it, but collapsed from the damage she had taken.

"Ariados return. You better be ready to finish your ninja training since I don't think that Musharna can beat Mightyena." Airachnid said a little too loudly.

"Mightyena will win this! Mightyena use Bite!" Mightyena sunk his teeth into one of Musharna's paws. She managed to throw him off but she didn't appear to have much health left.

"Musharna use Moonlight." Moonbeams suddenly shone down onto the battlefield and Musharna. Musharna absorbed the moonbeams and her health was slowly going back up.

"No way! I almost beat you! Grr… Mightyena use Assurance!" A shadowy fist appeared in the air and prepared to swing. However the fist didn't swing at Musharna; it collided with Mightyena and threw him sideways. When Mightyena hit the ground he had swirls in his eyes.

"No!"

"Mightyena is unable to battle! The winners are Yoketron, Prowl and Jazz!" Ash called out happily.

"Are you ok Mightyena?" Mightyena sat up and looked at his master apologetically as if it was his fault.

"A ninja should always be aware of anything that could do them harm; including, in Mightyena's case, confusion. You have forgotten some of your lessons and will have to begin your ninja training again." Yoketron explained to Lockdown.

"Guess you were right. I do need to relearn this stuff!" Lockdown looked at Mightyena who had now brightened up a little after seeing his master happier.

"You will have to return to the dojo in Praxus."

"Hey! That's where we are going! Can we come to the dojo with you?" Ash sounded excited; he hadn't been to a dojo in a long while!

"I don't see a problem with that unless you're coming to mock me…" Lockdown seemed convinced that's what they'd do.

"Why would we do that?" Misty sounded annoyed.

"You scared away that Quintesson for us and saved our Pokémon. Why would we tease you when you are stronger in battle than we are?" What Dawn was saying made sense.

"Are you coming with us as well?" May asked Prowl and Jazz.

"No."

"I've got other things I need to be doing in Polyhex." Jazz and Prowl then walked off towards the Mountain slope.

"Well no point standing around here all day; Praxus isn't that far away." Yoketron started to walk off towards Praxus.

"So let's get a move on!" Max ran on ahead and the others had to jog to keep up with him.

**AN: The two mechs being trained by Yoketron are TFA Prowl and Jazz. Prowl's Ninjask and Airachnid's Ariados are based on my own. Yoketron's Musharna is based on my sister's Musharna.**


	8. From Cyber-Ninja to Poké-Ninja!

"Let's go to the dojo now!"

"I thought you came to this region to challenge the Pokémon league Ash." Airachnid was confused; why was he getting so excited about going to the dojo?

"That can wait for a little while. I want to see how a Ninja is trained!"

"Me too!" Max was as excited about this as Ash was.

"You don't want to go there…"

"Sure we do Lockdown!" Ash answered enthusiastically.

"Really it's not a good idea…"

"What's the matter? Scared you'll make a fool of yourself?" Airachnid decided to try his patience a little.

"No! I know what I'm doing but…"

"But what?"

"You two! Stop arguing already!" Black Airachnia thought they might end up fighting over this petty argument so pushed her arms between the two of them.

"We have arrived." Yoketron stood still and Ash almost walked into the door.

"Whoa…" Both he and Max seemed in awe of the dojo.

"No point standing around out here." Brock hoped Yoketron would lead them in.

"Let's go inside!" Ash opened the door and walked in before any of the others could tell him it might not be polite to just waltz in like that. Ash had stopped when he realised the others weren't following him. It didn't take long for the others to catch up. They could all hear a female voice.

"Almost. Try aiming a little more to the left when you swing." Ash and the others continued walking along the corridor until they found another door. Yoketron opened it and the one who was receiving the assistance looked around to see who that was and fell over. It didn't take Brock long to run over to help them.

"Allow me to help you my dear." Brock held out his hand for the fallen Cybertronian.

"Err… Brock." Lockdown shouted and Airachnid and Black Airachnia were stifling giggles.

"What's so funny? Why can't I help out a girl?" Brock's confusion only made them snigger a little.

"Girl? You need your sight tested!" Airachnid managed to say.

"As much as I appreciate the offer for assistance I think I'll manage to get up myself." The one Brock was offering to help spoke and Brock thought the voice sounded decidedly _masculine_.

"Uh…" Brock collapsed with the shock of it and Croagunk appeared to drag him away.

"Now, I'm used to femmes fainting at my voice but that's the first time a mech has!"

"Get over yourself Starscream! He thought you were a femme."

"A femme?! Why would he think that?" Airachnid was about to answer when Starscream saw the look he was being given by the other mechs and femmes.

"Wait, on second thought, don't answer that."

"What was it you were trying to do Starscream?" Yoketron asked him.

"Arcee you'd better show him; I wouldn't _that_ to happen again." The rest of them giggled. Arcee moved away from the others so she didn't accidently hit someone. She spun around and then flicked her leg out at the last second.

"That move isn't designed to be performed by a mech Starscream." Lockdown answered.

"But I almost had it…"

"Maybe we got him wrong then…" Airachnid sniggered.

"Lockdown, that move is not designed to be performed by a mech of your size; Starscream is thinner than you and so can perform it." Yoketron then moved to the front of the class.

"Since you are here, would any of you like to have a try at some of the martial arts we do here?" Yoketron asked the group.

"I'll try it!" Ash stepped forward.

"I might as well have a go." Misty stood beside Ash.

"I'll join in too." May stepped forward.

"Anyone else?" Yoketron asked.

"No. I just came to watch Lockdown make a fool of himself." Airachnid answered.

"For the last time, I'm not going to mess up!"

"Right then you can sit at the side and watch." After Yoketron spoke Brock, Max, Dawn, Airachnid and Black Airachnia went to sit at the side.

"First off to show our new temporary trainees what can happen if you train hard we will have a practise battle." Yoketron motioned to the rest of them to go and sit near the edge of a square drawn on the floor.

"Arcee, Wheeljack would you care to demonstrate?" Yoketron asked and both of them stood up and moved to near the centre of the square.

"Usual rules?" Arcee asked.

"For the reason that I don't know the usual rules; can you share with the rest of the class what they are?" Misty asked.

"Misty! Don't be rude!" May said back.

"I will explain." Yoketron answered.

"You have to use your moves to either force or throw your opponent out of the square. If they end up with one part of their body touching the floor outside of the square; they lose."

"Seems simple enough." Ash said and Misty and May agreed with him.

"Fine. Let the battle begin!" Yoketron informed both the competitors and the audience. Arcee and Wheeljack both started to circle around, trying to figure out a way to defeat their opponent. Wheeljack performed a leg sweep which knocked Arcee off her feet. She stayed down waiting for him to try and grab her to put her outside the square. Wheeljack did try to grab her but Arcee kicked both of her legs up into his stomach; forcing him back a few steps and she used that opportunity to get back up. Wheeljack realised he was close to the edge and moved back towards Arcee. Arcee grabbed one of his arms then used it to shoulder toss him. When Wheeljack hit the ground, Yoketron noticed something.

"Well done Arcee, you are the winner."

"How?" Wheeljack asked and then looked down at his legs. The bottom half of them was outside the square. _She mustn't have fallen right in the middle but near this edge… She just got lucky…_

"Remind me not to get on your bad side!" Lockdown looked worried; if Arcee had gotten that good he was going to need a lot of retraining. Starscream spoke the same thing at the same time as he did.

"I think I might not so I can show you too!" Arcee responded to Starscream.

"Oh, I know you are better at this than me; I don't need you to prove it!"

"You'd go easy on me anyway."

"I would not!" Starscream huffily went over to talk to Brock and the others.

"You would though; I know you." Black Airachnia told him.

"Yes, but the rest of them don't need to know that!"

"Starscream come and join the rest of the group." Yoketron asked him calmly.

"Yes, Master." Starscream went back over and joined the rest of the group.

"Right now we will begin our lesson." Yoketron said and the class sat down cross-legged. Ash, Misty and May sat down too.

"Now close your eyes and free your mind." Ash, Misty and May tried to do what Yoketron said but all of them quickly found out this wasn't very interesting. They pretended to be sitting doing whatever it was the rest of them were for a little while but it didn't take long for them to start looking to see how long had passed. _Only two minutes! How long have we got to sit like this for?_ Ash started to fidget a little.

"I thought that might happen!" Dawn pointed at Ash, Misty and May and the group tried not to laugh; they didn't have the patience for this sort of thing! _Pika!_ Pikachu shouted to Ash from where he was on Dawn's shoulder.

"Not now Pikachu." Ash spoke quietly back but Pikachu didn't hear him.

"Pikachu must be sensing his master's boredom and is trying to help cheer him up." Max whispered quietly. _PIKA!_ Pikachu shouted again but this time everyone looked around at Dawn; who had been holding him for the whole lesson.

"Pikachu…" Ash sounded defeated; Pikachu had managed to get everyone to stop sitting still and quiet but only by shouting at them.

"Why isn't that Pokémon in its pokéball?" Starscream asked.

"He doesn't like being in one." Dawn answered.

"And before you tell me off for his noise; he's not mine, I'm looking after him for someone else."

"Pikachu! What did you make all that noise for?" Ash walked over and collected Pikachu from Dawn. _Pika! Pika! Pikachu! Pika-Pi! _Pikachu answered Ash.

"I think he's saying he could see you were bored Ash; so he decided to try and cheer you up." Misty answered; she'd gotten bored too but Ash had his eyes open and was looking around when she'd opened her eyes.

"Maybe we could try something different then." Yoketron suggested.

"Like what?" Arcee was curious.

"I did remember reading about a mech in the past, that was an expert Pokémon trainer as well as a cyber-ninja. His Pokémon apparently were just as good as ninjas as he was. I wonder if…?" Yoketron stopped to ponder something.

"Ash, would you like to battle against one of my students?" Yoketron asked.

"I'm not sure I could face up to any of them in their ninja skills…" Ash told him.

"You would not be fighting them directly; your Pokémon would be battling theirs." Yoketron explained and Ash looked relieved.

"Ok. I don't mind having a Pokémon battle with one of them."

"Here is your chance to see if your Pokémon have grown stronger on your travels Lockdown." Yoketron spoke to him.

"What? Oh… Am I going to battle Ash?" Lockdown hoped so; Airachnid might actually stop being convinced he was going to make a fool of himself if he won this battle.

"Yes you are; now go and beat him!" Black Airachnia shouted from the side lines causing some of them to look around at her confusedly. Arcee gave her a look saying she'd ask about it later.

"Everyone take your places around the square to watch this battle. The students all sat at one of the edges of the square; Yoketron would stand opposite them, and Ash and Lockdown would stand opposite each other at the two remaining sides.

"How many Pokémon do each of you have?" Yoketron asked both of them.

"Three."

"Six." Ash replied after Lockdown.

"This will be a three on three battle and it will be over when all Pokémon on one side can no longer battle. Choose your first Pokémon."

"Go Growlithe!" A small orange coloured dog like Pokémon appeared.

"Go Buizel!" Ash chose his sea weasel Pokémon to start the battle.

"Let the battle…" Yoketron paused for a few seconds. "Begin!"

"Growlithe use Leer!" Growlithe closed her eyes for a few seconds and when she opened them at Buizel they appeared to glint yellow. Buizel looked a little unnerved but still looked around at Ash, as if asking for a command.

"Buizel use Water Pulse!" A ball of water appeared in Buizel's paws and he threw it at Growlithe before she had chance to dodge. Growlithe struggled back to her feet.

"Growlithe use Ember!" Lockdown knew that wouldn't do much damage but it was Growlithe's only attacking move! Growlithe spat a stream of fire balls at Buizel; who flinched a little from the hit.

"Buizel you ok?" Ash asked. _Bui!_ Buizel shouted back sounding sure he could continue.

"Buizel use Water Gun!" A stream of water shot from Buizel's mouth straight into Growlithe. She collapsed from the damage.

"Growlithe return." Lockdown sounded a little disappointed.

"Go Mightyena!" The wolf like Pokémon appeared, growling angrily at Buizel.

"Mightyena use Bite!" Mightyena ran forward, his teeth flashing sharply.

"Buizel use Aqua Jet to dodge first then hit Mightyena from behind!" Ash shouted, hoping Buizel understood what to do. Buizel waited until Mightyena was close then spun his tail like a propeller and jumped into the air, using Aqua Jet to dodge. The Aqua Jet then swung back around and knocked Mightyena over towards one of the corners. Yoketron looked amazed at Buizel's skill. _Maybe it is possible for a sort of Poké-Ninja after all…_

"Mightyena aim for Buizel with Crunch when he lands!" Mightyena watched were Buizel was going to land and then ran towards it. Buizel felt Mightyena's teeth dig into his side when he landed. Buizel fell down onto all fours from the damage he'd taken.

"Buizel! Are you ok?" Ash asked Buizel hoping he was. _Bui-Bui…_ Buizel said trying to push himself back to his feet with his front paws. However Buizel didn't have the energy to do that and collapsed to the ground with swirls in his eyes.

"Buizel return…" Ash then looked at Pikachu.

"Do you want to battle now Pikachu?" Ash asked. _Pika! Pika-Pi!_ Pikachu spoke and then jumped down into the square, looking confidently at Mightyena.

"Pikachu use Thunderbolt!" Pikachu fired a bolt of lightning at Mightyena who cried out both in pain and shock.

"Mightyena use Assurance!" A shadowy fist appeared in the air, hovering close to Pikachu. The fist then swung for its target.

"Pikachu jump over it!" Pikachu did as his master commanded, flipping forwards in the air towards Mightyena.

"Now use Iron Tail!" Pikachu's tail glowed and then looked like it was made out of metal. Using the momentum of the flip Pikachu swung his tail into Mightyena as hard as he could. Mightyena went flying backwards and landed at his master's feet with swirls in his eyes.

"Mightyena return." _I hope Crawdaunt can manage this…_

"Go Crawdaunt!" The Rogue Pokémon appeared before his master and looked a bit nervous at the electric type across the field from him.

"Don't worry Crawdaunt, you can do this! Use Night Slash!" Crawdaunt seemed reassured that his master had confidence in him, and he ran forward with one of his claws cloaked in shadows. This claw was swung at Pikachu before he had chance to dodge and he was knocked into the air with the force of it. Pikachu managed to flip himself so he landed back on his feet.

"Pikachu use Volt Tackle!" Pikachu ran forward, covered in an electric cloak.

"Crawdaunt use Bubblebeam to stop him!" Crawdaunt spat a stream of bubbles at Pikachu but Pikachu dodged around them as if he could sense they were coming and Pikachu collided hard with Crawdaunt. Crawdaunt wobbled a little from the hit. Pikachu got a little few sparks striking him because of the recoil damage.

"Pikachu are you ok?" _Pika-Pi!_

"Ok then use Quick Attack before Crawdaunt recovers!" Pikachu dashed forward and knocked into Crawdaunt before he could react. Crawdaunt collapsed from the damage.

"No!"

"Crawdaunt is unable to battle. The winner is Ash." Yoketron spoke to the group.

"Crawdaunt return. How'd you beat me?" Lockdown couldn't seem to believe he'd lost.

"Pikachu and I have been training together for a long time, haven't we buddy?" _Pika!_ Pikachu happily answered.

"Well done Ash. You may not have the patience to be a ninja but Buizel and Pikachu seem to have the skills."

"Thank you." Ash sounded happy to be being praised.

"Now I can go challenge the gym!" Ash shouted happily.

"You want to challenge the gym?" Wheeljack went over and asked Ash.

"Yeah."

"Don't tell me this gym is closed too…" Misty sounded annoyed.

"It is at this very moment; as the gym leader was busy training in Circuit-Su." Wheeljack answered.

"Wait! One of you is the gym leader!" May sounded surprised; why would a gym leader need to know martial arts of any kind?

"Yes actually I am." Wheeljack spoke again and Ash and the others looked at him, shocked.

"Can I challenge the gym?" Ash asked Wheeljack.

"You might want to go to the Pokémon centre first; give me time to set up." Wheeljack then walked off towards the dojo doors; followed by Ash and the others.

**AN: Don't worry Brock; I'd imagine you're not the only one from Starscream's appearance who thinks he is female… And on a separate note Lockdown's Growlithe is based on my own. (She is only Level 18) Lockdown has a Growlithe because Officer Jennys in Kanto have them, and that what I wanted him to be kind of like…**


	9. An Explosive Battle!

Ash and the others walked to the Pokémon centre to get Ash's Pokémon healed up after that battle. Brock ran on ahead; knowing who was there.

"Nurse Joy!" Brock shouted loudly and happily as he ran through the door. He walked over and took one of her hands in his.

"At last you can repair my broken heart with your magic touch…" Brock told Nurse Joy before he shrieked in pain; Croagunk Poison Jabbed him.

"Or I'll get it broken again by Croagunk's poisonous touch…" Brock said before collapsing and being dragged away by Croagunk. Ash and the others walked through the door just as Brock was being dragged out of it by Croagunk.

"Oh I hope that man is alright…" Nurse Joy sounded worried.

"I wouldn't worry about Brock." Misty told Nurse Joy.

"He usually gets back up after a minute or two." Dawn reassured her.

"Alright then. Would anyone like to have their Pokémon healed?" Nurse Joy asked the group.

"My Buizel and Pikachu were in a battle recently and I need them healed to challenge the gym."

"Oh, you must be Ash. Wheeljack has been expecting you for a little while." Ash listened to what Nurse Joy was telling him while Buizel and Pikachu clambered onto a nearby stretcher. A Chansey appeared through a set of double doors and, after spotting the Pokémon on the stretcher, she wheeled it through to heal Buizel and Pikachu. While Ash and the others were waiting, Brock walked back through the doors and sat down next to them.

"Ash." Nurse Joy called to him and Ash walked up to see how his Pokémon were. Chansey pushed the stretcher back through the doors and Buizel and Pikachu hopped down off the stretcher and happily spoke to Ash. _Bui-Bui! Pika!_

"Oh, hello. Are you two feeling better now?" Ash asked his Pokémon and both of them answered with _Bui! Pi-Pikachu!_

"Then let's go challenge the gym!" Ash picked up Pikachu and returned Buizel to his pokéball and walked towards the door.

"Hey! Wait for us!" Misty ran off after Ash and the rest of the group followed. Ash was now waiting outside the Pokémon gym for the others to show up.

"What'd you run off for?" Misty asked crossly.

"You knew where I was going didn't you?"

"Ash, Misty don't fight." Max hoped they heard him.

"Didn't you want to challenge the gym?" Airachnid asked Ash.

"Oh right." Ash stopped arguing with Misty and walked into the gym.

"We'd better follow him; he will want us to cheer for him." Dawn pulled her cheerleader top and pompoms out of her bag and walked in after Ash. The rest of them followed; though none of them looked like they were going to cheer.

"Ah, there you are. I was beginning to think you weren't going to show."

"When I say I'm going to challenge a gym; I'm going to challenge a gym." Ash told Wheeljack.

"Alright then. Skyfire, you ready to referee?" Wheeljack shouted to a tall white jet over towards the stands.

"Erm… Alright." Skyfire sounded nervous. He walked to the helper's podium and stepped up onto it.

"Competitors, take your positions!" Skyfire called just as Dawn and the rest of the group made their way to the stands.

"Right, this match will be between Ash, the challenger and Wheeljack, the Gym Leader. You will each use three Pokémon and the battle will be over when all three Pokémon on one side can no longer battle." Skyfire motioned for them both to step up to the edge of the arena.

"Choose your Pokémon!"

"Fine then, let's start with Geodude!" Wheeljack called out a Pokémon that looked just like a rock with arms.

"Buizel, I choose you!" Buizel jumped up and down eagerly, both his paws held out in front of him like a boxer.

"Ok. The first match will be Buizel vs. Geodude! Let the battle begin!" Skyfire finally sounded more confident.

"Geodude use Magnitude!" Geodude clenched both of his fists then slammed them into the ground, causing a tremor of Magnitude 5. The shockwave moved across the arena towards Buizel.

"Buizel use Aqua Jet to dodge!" Buizel spun his tail and catapulted himself into the air; dodging the tremor. Buizel then continued going and slammed full force into Geodude, sending him rolling backwards.

"Geodude roll forwards instead, Use Rollout!" Geodude started to spin in the opposite direction, causing him to roll forwards instead. The rolling Geodude collided with Buizel and knocked him into the air.

"Buizel use Water Gun when Geodude rolls at you again!" Buizel waited until Geodude was rolling towards him again then spat a stream of water straight at Geodude. Geodude then stopped rolling and collapsed to the ground with swirls in his eyes.

"Geodude return. Let's go Forretress!" A Pokémon that looked like a brain with red spikes sticking out of it appeared.

"Forretress use Rapid Spin!" Forretress began to spin around until it looked more like a red and purple saw blade than a Pokémon. Then he flew through the air and collided hard with Buizel. Buizel fell down with swirls in his eyes.

"No Buizel! Return…" Ash reluctantly returned Buizel to his pokéball; both of those Pokémon were Rock types so Buizel was well suited to this gym based on that. _Wait! Forretress is a Bug type too!_

"Go Infernape!" Ash's fiery monkey appeared.

"Infernape use Flame Wheel!" Infernape jumped into the air and flipped forward; his fiery mane cloaking him and turning him into a fiery wheel. The wheel then rolled forwards and collided with Forretress, who looked badly hurt from the fire.

"Forretress try using Rapid Spin again!" Forretress again went flying towards Ash's Pokémon like a throwing star and Forretress knocked Infernape backwards a little from the hit.

"Infernape use Dig!" Infernape dug his way under the ground.

"Forretress use Selfdestruct when Infernape comes back up…" Wheeljack didn't sound happy about using that but it was a last resort. Infernape sprang up out of the ground just in front of Forretress. Just before Infernape could hit him, Forretress produced an explosion using the last of his energy. Infernape flew backwards from the strength of the explosion. Infernape landed on his feet, but wobbled a little. Forretress had swirls in his eyes.

"Forretress return. Go Boldore!" A Pokémon that looked like a spider made out of rocks appeared. Ash checked it on his Pokédex.

"_Boldore, the Ore Pokémon. Because its energy was too great to be contained, the energy leaked and formed orange crystals._"

"Boldore use Smack Down!" A rock flew from Boldore in a wide arc falling down onto Infernape's head. Infernape swatted at the rock but he didn't seem to be badly hurt by it.

"Infernape use Mach Punch!" Infernape ran forward at a blinding speed and then slammed his fist into Boldore. Boldore winced from the damage.

"Boldore use Rock Blast!" A rock was shot out of Boldore's mouth at Infernape. Once. Twice. Three times. Four times. After the fourth rock collided with Infernape, he collapsed.

"Infernape return. Go Torterra!" A large green tortoise with a tree growing on his back appeared.

"Torterra use Energy Ball!" A ball of green light appeared into Torterra's mouth and then he shot at Boldore. Boldore went flying backwards and when he hit the ground he had swirls in his eyes.

"Boldore is unable to battle! The winner is Ash!" Skyfire called to the watchers.

"Boldore… Come here." Boldore struggled to his feet and then walked over slowly to his master.

"You did your best; it's hard to beat a grass type with rock type moves!" Wheeljack actually didn't sound that disappointed so Boldore didn't either when he spoke _Boldore!_

"Ash as commemoration of your victory at this gym…"

"Just say he beat me. No need to beat around the bush Skyfire; I can take it!" Wheeljack interrupted.

"I present you with the Saber Badge." Skyfire then held out a small case with a badge in it which Ash took happily.

"Yes! We just won… The Saber Badge!" Ash called out. _Pi-Pikachu! Bui-Bui! Tor-Terra! Infernape!_ His Pokémon called out too.

"I suppose you will want to go to Crystal City next Ash." Black Airachnia walked down to speak to him.

"Unless you want to go back to Polyhex!" Airachnid said cheekily.

"Is there a gym at Crystal City?" Ash asked.

"No, but it is the quickest way to get to Chaar; where the next gym is." Black Airachnia explained.

"Is there much point staying there?" Misty asked.

"Well… We will because we want to catch up with all the other femmes…" Airachnid spoke and Brock ran off out the door faster than any of them could blink!

"Was it something I said?" Airachnid looked confusedly towards the door.

"You seem to have implied all the femmes in region are in Crystal City…" Black Airachnia told Airachnid.

"He must have femmes on the brain…" Airachnid decided to go and see where Brock had gotten to and the rest of the group followed her. They all saw Brock running in the completely wrong direction; towards Dark Mount!

"Brock!" May called on him and he stopped and looked around.

"What?"

"Look where you are going!" Max called to him. Brock looked and then saw Dark Mount looming beyond the forest he was running towards. He then realised his mistake and went back to the rest of the group. The group then headed towards Crystal City.

**AN: It seems Wheeljack even has explosive Pokémon! Anyway Wheeljack's Geodude and Forretress are based on my own. His Boldore is based on my Gigalith.**


	10. Crystal Clear Contest Battles!

Ash and the others had now reached Crystal City and were in awe of how pretty it was.

"How'd you manage to fashion this place out of all of those crystals?" May asked.

"I don't know; you'd have to ask the mechs that designed it; and no I don't know who they are either." Airachnid answered her.

"Now where have we got to go?" Ash asked; he wanted to get on with the next gym battle.

"Hi there!" Ash jumped as did some of the rest of the group; a femme snuck up behind them.

"Hello." Ash said a little nervously.

"Hello there, my dear!" Brock shouted happily.

"Here we go again…" Misty whispered to Dawn.

"Did anybody ever tell you you're beautiful? Because I'd like to run off into the sunset with you!" Brock said and then screamed; Croagunk Poison Jabbed him in the stomach.

"Or just run away from Croagunk…" Brock said weakly before collapsing and Croagunk dragged him away.

"Hello Elita…" Airachnid wondered what she was doing hovering around here.

"I don't suppose any of you heard about the competition being held here soon?"

"Competition! What competition?" Ash's interest was piqued.

"There's a competition starting in the arena over there soon, and I was wondering if any of you would like to take part."

"What sort of battles is it?" Dawn asked; she was thinking about entering too.

"Contest battles I think… You'd have to ask Beta; she's the one dealing with it." Elita told them and May and Dawn ran off straight towards the arena.

"We'd better catch up before they enter without us!" Ash ran off after them and the others followed along; anyone not entering would cheer them on from in the crowd! It didn't take long for the group to reach the arena and walk inside. A green femme walked up to them.

"Hello there! Would you like to enter the tournament?" The femme, who they assumed was Beta, asked them.

"What type of tournament is it?" Ash asked her.

"Double Contest Battles, across all three rounds." Beta informed them.

"Fine then. I'll team up with May!" Dawn told the group.

"And I'll help Ash." Brock said.

"One other little restriction. The teams have to be one mech, one femme." Beta told them.

"Oh, alright then… I'll team up with Dawn." Ash said.

"And I'll team up with Brock." May told them all.

"Right then. Ash and Dawn, May and Brock make your way through." Beta said slightly amusedly. Ash and the others didn't pick up on it, and walked through to the preparation area.

"Can we go through there?" Misty asked; hoping that they could; she wanted to know who else was in the tournament!

"They're friends of yours right? Then you can go through." Beta let Misty and Max go through.

"And you two can go through; you entered earlier." Beta said quietly; she had a feeling that Ash and the others didn't know Black Airachnia and Airachnid had entered the tournament.

Meanwhile, backstage…

Ash and the others were busy waiting to see if anyone else decided to join them. They seemed surprised when Max and Misty walked through the doors.

"Don't tell me you entered too?" Dawn didn't think Misty was one for contest battles.

"No, but Beta let us come through here, for moral support I think." Misty told them.

"What are you two joining us for? Moral support too?" Misty looked around when the door opened and she saw Black Airachnia and Airachnid following them.

"No I'm looking for someone…" Airachnid said before wandering off.

"I entered the tournament a while ago, well Lockdown entered us, so I'll just have to find him."

"What's he look like?" A male voice spoke and Black Airachnia looked around.

"What'd you sneak up on me for?"

"I've been stood here the whole time! You just didn't notice me!" Black Airachnia couldn't have been that annoyed with Lockdown; she quickly slipped her arms around him and pulled him close.

"Hey! It was your idea to keep this on the quiet; so you should be a bit more discrete with things like that!"

"This is the Crystal City tournament; that kind of secret won't stay secret for very long!" Ash and the others couldn't help wondering what Black Airachnia was getting at. While this was happening another partnership appeared and quietly stood with the group.

"I wonder what she means…" Dawn said.

"You entered this tournament with knowing what it's for?" Airachnid had re-joined the group with any of them realising! Airachnid saw all of them giving her blank looks.

"I think they'll find out soon enough!" The mech that was with her spoke without thinking.

"I don't suppose you are going to tell us who your partner is?" Lockdown sounded annoyed; he didn't like it when people snuck up on him!

"He is perfectly capable of introducing himself." The mech then proceeded to do so.

"I'm Kickback." The mech told the group. Max couldn't help wondering what kind of vehicle he turned into.

"You'll never guess who's gotten himself a girlfriend!" Kickback then said loudly so everyone in the area looked around to see what he was going on about.

"Are you sure?" Airachnid knew Kickback sometimes spoke without completely thinking about what he was saying.

"Well the mech in question and the femme had their lips locked together so I assumed they were boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Who?" Black Airachnia was interested now.

"Follow me!" Kickback walked off towards where he and Airachnid had come from and the others followed. Misty walked along nearer Kickback than the others; she hoped it was a mech they had met. Everyone apart from Kickback looked shocked at who it was. An orange femme was sat on a red mech's lap and they were passionately kissing each other. Ash and the others recognised who the mech was too and couldn't seem to believe it. Misty decided to be the first one who spoke.

"Hey Knock Out!" Misty shouted which caused the mech and femme to pull their heads away from each other and open their eyes. Knock Out saw how many had gathered around and turned pale blue.

"Err… Hi… You didn't all see that did you?" Knock Out hoped not; this was embarrassing enough already!

"Yes we did! You aren't blushing are you?" Misty smirked; that's what it looked like.

"No…" Knock Out turned a deeper shade of blue after hearing how many had saw him doing that.

"Then why are your cheeks blue?" Airachnid asked to wind him up a little. Knock Out didn't answer that and Airachnid knew why; he was.

"Hey Firestar, when were you going to tell us you had a boyfriend?" Black Airachnia was now trying to stop everyone from winding Knock Out up. He silently mouthed 'thank you' to her.

"I wasn't planning on telling anyone…"

"If you weren't planning on telling anyone; you and your boyfriend wouldn't be kissing like that where anyone could catch you!" Kickback sounded amused; he was right for once!

"Hello everyone!" A voice came over the intercoms.

"Welcome to the Crystal City tournament! This year we will be trying contest battles for the first time! Now if our competitors could look at the screens backstage, you will first see the prize then the matchups." Everyone backstage looked at one of the screens. A crystal pendant on a silver chain appeared on the screen. The crystal was heart shaped.

"This is the prize for our two winners; the Spirit Crystal! If you wear it your Pokémon will learn to trust you more easily." The screen then changed and the matchups were displayed.

_1. Ash & Dawn vs. Lockdown & Black Airachnia_

_2. Knock Out & Firestar vs. Powerglide & Moonracer_

_3. Brock & May vs. Starscream & Arcee_

_4. Kickback & Airachnid vs. Ironhide & Chromia_

"Not those two…" Lockdown said without indicating who he was on about; and when questioned he didn't say.

"Right now that we can see who will be battling who, can our first competitors get ready to go!"

"Looks like Scrapper is doing the announcing…" Knock Out hoped that Hook wasn't out there; he'd get marked down for no reason! Knock Out had done something to annoy Hook last time they'd met.

"You ready Dawn?" Ash asked.

"Yes. I just wish we didn't have to battle Lockdown and Black Airachnia so early on…"

"Just because they are strong in normal battles doesn't mean they'll be strong in contest battles, Dawn." Ash reassured her.

"Can our competitors make their way to the arena?" Scrapper asked over the intercoms. Ash and Dawn walked towards the doors, nervous of what they might face.

"Right, before our first match begins, I'll introduce our judges for today. First we have Hook." Scrapper pointed to a green and purple mech who looked similar to him. Knock Out put his head in his hands when Scrapper said that; he was going to find it harder to win now, he thought.

"Second we have Elita." Scrapper pointed to a pink and white femme.

"And then there is myself." Everyone looked towards the chair in between the other two; Scrapper was head judge!

"Now that's out of the way; let's get on with the battles! Our first battle will be between…" Scrapper paused waiting for the pictures to appear on screen.

"Ash and Dawn vs. Lockdown and Black Airachnia!" Scrapper then motioned them to come out onto the stage. Ash and Dawn walked out first followed by Lockdown and Black Airachnia. One couple moved to one side the other the other side. While this was happening Scrapper had moved to his seat.

"Let's have five minutes on the clock. And let the performance begin!" As Scrapper finished speaking the clock started.

"Buneary, spotlight!"

"Buizel, I choose you!" Two pokéballs flew from Ash's and Dawn's side. One opened in a cloud of pink hearts, the other a shower of blue bubbles. Buneary emerged from the hearts with a wink and the hearts flew outward towards the edge of the stage. Buizel appeared amongst the bubbles and swatted them away from himself using his tail.

"Umbreon, time to shine!"

"Let's go Ambipom!" This time one of the balls produced a monkey shape made out of golden stars and the other a blast of blue flames. The stars flew away from the monkey, who happily spoke _Ambi!_ The blue flames settled near the ground where a black fox like Pokémon stood. The flames then flew outwards when Umbreon spoke.

"Ok Buizel, start off with Water Gun!" Buizel spat a stream of water at Umbreon.

"Umbreon use Confuse Ray!" Umbreon's eyes glowed an eerie light purple and the glow also coated the Water Gun. The glow dispersed the Water Gun causing blue sparkles to fall onto the arena floor, and costing Ash points.

"Ambipom use Swift!" Ambipom jumped into the air and swung his tail backwards and forwards causing stars to go flying at Buneary like raindrops.

"Buneary use Bounce!" Buneary sprang up and jumped on each of the stars making each one explode into smaller stars. Lockdown's points went down because of that.

"Umbreon use Pursuit!" Umbreon ran forward and seemed to glow dark purple. Umbreon was aiming for Buneary this time.

"Buneary jump over Umbreon!" Buneary jumped over Umbreon and tilted her head downward as if she knew what Dawn was going to tell her to do next.

"Use Dizzy Punch!" The tufts of fur on Buneary's ears glowed with a rainbow hue and then she started slamming them rhythmically into Umbreon's back, using the last punch to flip her back to her feet. Black Airachnia's score went down.

"Hey, Locky I have an idea. Do you think Ambipom could fling Buizel into the air using one of his tails then use Double Hit on him?"

"We did practice on throwing things up into the air with his tails so I don't see why not." Lockdown then called to Ambipom.

"Ambipom use Double Hit, like we practiced!" Ambipom ran towards Buizel and wrapped one of his tails around Buizel's middle.

"Buizel use Ice Punch!" Buizel was just about to swing his fist at Ambipom when the tail that held him flicked and he went flying into the air. _Bui?_ Buizel sounded worried and Ash looked it when he saw Ambipom's tails glowing purple.

"Buizel watch out!" Ash had lost some points when Buizel was flung into the air when he tried to attack but he was going to lose even more now. As Buizel neared Ambipom, and hence the ground, Ambipom swung one of his tails into Buizel, knocking him back into the air again. Ambipom did this once more before running back to his master. Buizel managed to land on his feet, but only just. Ash was down to about half of his points now.

"I know what to do!" Dawn whispered to Ash and both of them then said at the same time what it was.

"Buizel use Aqua Jet!" Buizel sprang into the air, cloaked in water.

"Buneary use Ice Beam on Buizel!" This confused both Lockdown and Black Airachnia. _Why would Buneary attack her own partner?_ Buneary shot a stream of ice from her mouth straight at the Aqua Jet. This didn't hurt Buizel though; it just froze the Aqua Jet and it now looked sharp and was covered in icicles. Both Pokémon and masters looked in awe of the Aqua Jet and hence neither could do anything to dodge it.

"Ice Aqua Jet!" Ash and Dawn called at the same time. Just after they spoke, Buizel collided with both Ambipom and Umbreon. Ambipom got back to his feet but Umbreon didn't; he had swirls in his eyes. Lockdown's points were just below half after that hit. Black Airachnia's points decreased to zero and she returned Umbreon to his pokéball.

"I hope you can win this Lockdown…" Black Airachnia didn't sound sure, after that combination attack she wasn't sure he could win.

"Ambipom use Astonish!" Ambipom jumped in the air and flipped towards Buizel. His tail began to glow with a white light. After each flip he used his tail to help the next; with a cry of _Ambi!_ Buizel got knocked back by Ambipom's tail and Ash's points went down a little bit.

"Buizel use Ice Punch!" Buizel's fist was cloaked in ice again. He ran towards Ambipom whirling his fist around at the same time, causing little blue sparkles to flutter to the ground. Buizel then slammed this fist into Ambipom's stomach, throwing him up into the air. Ambipom positioned his tails, as if he was going to try and land on them, and then used them to softly land on ground. However the lack of health points made Ambipom collapse with swirls in his eyes. With about a minute remaining on the clock, Lockdown's points decreased to zero.

"That's it! The winners of this battle are Ash and Dawn!" Scrapper called out. Lockdown had returned his Pokémon to his pokéball and walked off back towards the backstage entry point with Black Airachnia. Ash and Dawn were busy congratulating their Pokémon when the crowd started to chant something.

"Dawn… I hope they aren't saying what I think they are."

"Looks like the crowd want this couple to kiss!" Scrapper spoke and that removed all doubt in Ash's and Dawn's mind.

"Do you want to do this Dawn?"

"I don't think that crowd will be satisfied unless we do Ash!" Ash looked slightly worried.

"But I don't have a problem with it." Ash looked reassured and shuffled next to Dawn. Ash then touched his lips to hers for a few seconds before pulling away. The crowd cheered, as if happy for them.

"We just need to give the arena a quick check over before the next match can start!" Scrapper happily told the crowd. Ash and Dawn picked up Buizel and Buneary and walked towards backstage. What the crowd was unaware of, as was everyone else, was another couple kissing much more passionately just around the side of the backstage door…

**AN: KnockoutxFirestar = another random pairing… Knock Out blushed blue because that's what colour his 'blood' is. And I think Ash and Dawn just discovered what Kickback was getting at! Also Elita and Black Airachnia are two separate femmes in this fic. On a separate note Lockdown's Ambipom and Black Airachnia's Umbreon are based on my own.**


	11. Crystals are a Girl's Best Friend!

"Now that the arena has had its check over we can begin the next battle. Would our competitors make their way to the entry door?" Scrapper asked amusedly; he wanted to see the look on Knock Out's face when he realised Hook was a judge. The next two sets of challengers walked up to the entryway; one more enthusiastic than the other. _I hope the crowd don't want every couple who wins to kiss… Because if I win, I'm not sure I want to…_ Knock Out thought to himself as he and Firestar stood opposite their opponents; Moonracer and Powerglide. Elita looked curiously at Firestar's partner; she hadn't seen the draws and she seemed surprised at who it was.

"Now let's have five minutes on the clock." Scrapper pointed up to the board and a digital clock with five minutes on it appeared.

"Let the battle begin!" Scrapper eagerly said from where he was sat.

"Magby, let's go!"

"Ponyta, you're the star!" Both Ponyta's and Magby's pokéballs opened with a blast of fire; one blue, one orange. The two fiery shapes began to swirl around each other until they landed on the ground; where a ring of orange fire flew outwards from Ponyta and a ring of blue fire flew out from Magby.

"Swablu, away we go!"

"Lunatone, go!" What looked like what you would see on script music floated out of each pokéball; one red, one light green. In the middle of the light green symphony was Lunatone, and the red Swablu. The lines then disappeared and the notes floated outwards towards the crowd.

"Lunatone use Cosmic Power!" Lunatone looked like it had stars swirling around it, the stars raised its defense and special defense.

"Ponyta hit that Lunatone with Ember!"

"You too Magby!" Ponyta and Magby both spat embers at the opponent. The embers began to swirl around each other producing something similar to a Fire Spin going for Lunatone. Lunatone got hit; but it didn't do as much damage as the two masters hoped. But Moonracer still lost a few points.

"Swablu use Peck!" Swablu's beak appeared to lengthen before he flew at Magby as fast as he could.

"Magby jump over him!" Magby listened to his master and jumped past Swablu's beak, costing Powerglide a few points.

"Use Faint Attack!" Magby looked like he was made out of shadows as he aimed for Lunatone. The shadowy Magby collided as hard as he could with Lunatone. Lunatone rocked a little from the damage but seemed alright.

"Swablu use Dragonbreath!" A stream of blue fire flew from Swablu's mouth, straight for Ponyta. Ponyta was mesmerised by the blue fire and didn't move out of the way. She winced a little from the hit, but kept going. Firestar's points decreased a little.

"Ponyta use Ember!" Ponyta spat more fire at Lunatone. But this time Lunatone was ready for her.

"Lunatone use Psychic!" Lunatone's eyes lit up blue and the fire collected in little clusters around Lunatone. The clusters of Ember began to move around, almost like they were dancing around Lunatone. Firestar's points went down again. The embers then began to fly towards Ponyta and Magby; the embers where now flying around them instead. Firestar and Knock Out couldn't do anything to help Magby and Ponyta so their points went down when both of them got hit by the attack.

"I've got an idea Knocks, but I don't know how well it will work…" Firestar whispered her idea to Knock Out, who also seemed to like it.

"I'll just have to hope it works and doesn't backfire…" Knock Out then turned to Magby.

"Magby use Smokescreen!" Magby spat black smoke from his mouth while moving his head around to cover both him and Ponyta. It didn't take long for both of them to become obscured by smoke.

"Now Ponyta! Use Flame Wheel!" Ponyta jumped into the air and flipped over and over, the flames forming her mane and tail creating a vortex around her. The glow coming from the Flame Wheel was visible in the smoke cloud but that wasn't what stopped Powerglide and Moonracer from trying to counter. When Ponyta burst through the cloud, some of the smoke swirled around the Flame Wheel, it looked a bit like mist instead of smoke now though. Both Swablu and Lunatone got hit by the Smokey Flame Wheel and both reeled a bit from the attack.

"Swablu use Take Down!" Swablu flew into the air with a reckless look in his eyes and then swooped down at Magby. Magby fell back from the damage but Swablu didn't come away unscathed either. Knock Out lost a few points.

"Lunatone use Cosmic Power again!" More stars swirled around Lunatone boosting its defense and special defense even further.

"Magby use Ember!" Magby shot a stream of embers at his opponents and Firestar had an idea.

"Ponyta use Ember too!" Ponyta waved her mane and tail around and then shot some embers out of her mouth too. Her embers began to swirl around Magby's forming another flaming vortex. Powerglide's and Moonracer's points fell a little further but both of them knew that they couldn't lose too many more points. They had to stop that vortex somehow…

"We'd better think of a plan quickly to stop that vortex." Powerglide whispered to Moonracer.

"Why don't we try the Dragon Wave attack?" Moonracer suggested.

"Oh! I forgot about that! Good idea!" Powerglide then turned to Swablu since it was his job to start off that attack.

"Swablu use Dragonbreath!" Blue fire billowed from Swablu's mouth heading for just in front of Lunatone. This confused Firestar and Knock Out; how could that stop the Ember vortex heading towards Swablu and Lunatone?

"Lunatone use Psywave!" Each Psywave that Lunatone sent forth collected the Dragonbreath that was in front of it and then produced a blue fiery wave that moved forwards towards the Ember vortex. Then all of the Psywaves merged together to produce a large wave made of blue fire that looked similar to Surf.

"Dragon Wave!" Powerglide and Moonracer shouted together and the wave washed forwards towards the vortex. Knock Out and Firestar both lost points due to how beautiful this wave actually looked. The Ember vortex and the Dragon Wave collided in the middle of the arena creating an explosion of red and blue fire that shot outwards and reduced everyone's points a bit. After the flames dispersed the four competitors got ready to use another attack… Then everyone heard a ding. The clock had hit zero.

"Looks like this match hasn't quite been decided in the five minutes. So we will collect up the remaining points of the competitors." Scrapper told the crowd and the clock disappeared from the board; replaced by two bars.

"First off we'll see how the match would have ended if it was just one on one between the femmes." All of the competitors watched as the remainder of the points circles for both femmes emptied into the bar nearest their team. Both of them were quite similar but it was Moonracer who was just ahead. Powerglide looked at the circles belonging to him and Knock Out. _Knock Out has quite a few more points left than I do… I don't think we've won this…_

"Now let's add on the mechs remaining points to see who the winners are…" Scrapper paused while the board slowly emptied the mech's points circles into the bars. Powerglide was willing the bar for his team to keep going but now he could definitely see it had stopped but as had the bar for the other team. Maybe…

"It looks like our winners are…" Scrapper paused for effect for a few seconds

"Knock Out and Firestar!" Hook scowled; he wanted Knock Out to lose; would serve him right! Powerglide and Moonracer returned their Pokémon to their pokéballs and then walked off stage but stood near the door; they wanted to see what happened next!

"I hope they don't…" Knock Out paused before going to see how Magby was, the crowd were being too quiet. Firestar also walked over to check on her Ponyta and once both of them had confirmed their Pokémon were ok they returned the Pokémon to the pokéballs. After they'd both stood up is when the crowd decided to start chanting 'Kiss!'

"I had hoped they wouldn't do that…"

"Why, don't you like kisses?" Firestar hoped he wouldn't answer no to that.

"I do but…" Knock Out didn't get chance to voice whatever his opinions were, as Firestar pushed her lips against his. Knock Out quickly realised what was happening and adjusted slightly. However he didn't react as quickly to Firestar sliding her tongue into his mouth and lightly stroking the sides with it. _Am I supposed to do that? I hope she doesn't mind…_ When Firestar slid her tongue out of his mouth, he made his mind up; he was probably supposed to reciprocate. Knock Out gently slid his tongue past her lips and gently rubbed the tip of his tongue across the top of Firestar's mouth before sliding his tongue back out. Very quickly after that Firestar pulled her head back. The crowd whistled and cheered approvingly.

"Looks like those two are serious!" Scrapper thought they might have entered together for a joke of sorts; but that kiss proved they were serious…ly in love!

"Now we'll just have to get the crowd settled down a bit before our next match…" Scrapper said quietly to himself. Meanwhile Knock Out and Firestar had snuck off backstage.

"Whoa… I didn't think I'd ever be doing that sort of thing in front of so many Cybertronians."

"It isn't over yet Knocks, we've still got to go the waiting area and face the others…"

In the waiting area…

"Hey, did you guys see that?"

"No Powerglide, I shut my eyes." Airachnid retorted.

"Fine, for those of you that did as well; Knock Out has got a girlfriend!"

"Wait really?" Misty joined in with being sarcastic.

"We found him and Firestar joined at the lips earlier." Lockdown explained just as Knock Out walked through.

"I hope this isn't about me!" Knock Out sounded cross.

"You are the last mech I'd expect to be shot down by Cupid, Knock Out!"

"I'm sure Sparkplug said that about you Powerglide…" Lockdown was teasing him now.

"Can it." While the mechs were arguing after that, the femmes were busy having a talk about what just happened as well.

"Spill it."

"Spill what Black Airachnia?" Firestar looked confused.

"How long have you two been sharing saliva like that?"

"What?"

"What I think Airachnid means is; how long have you two been boyfriend and girlfriend?" Black Airachnia explained hoping that Firestar wasn't too flustered.

"A few weeks maybe… I'm not sure…"

"How'd you manage to keep it a secret all that time?" Dawn couldn't understand how they'd not been able to keep their hands off each other at the arena, yet they'd been together a few weeks with no one knowing.

"We sort of became boyfriend and girlfriend last time he was passing through here, and you know the saying…"

"Absence makes the spark grow fonder." Moonracer knew the feeling.

"Now about when we caught you kissing like that… Was that your first kiss?" Misty asked Firestar.

"We have kissed before that if that's what you mean…"

"And out there…" Misty pointed towards the door.

"Like the others? Or different?"

"Kind of similar to the others but…"

"Tongues?"

"Misty! You don't need to be so nosy!" Dawn sounded slightly annoyed; would Misty really be telling everyone else about it if this was her?

"If you'll stop bothering me I'll tell you." Misty then said she would stop bothering Firestar but by this point the mechs had stopped arguing and were now listening in.

"Yes, we were stroking the insides of each other's mouths with our tongues. He seems kind of nervous when doing that sort of thing but he's really good…" Firestar then had the suspicion that it wasn't just the femmes listening and looked around.

"Oh, hi guys." Firestar then responded.

"You know, as much as I love being complimented I would rather you weren't telling everyone about my prowess, or lack thereof as the case may be." Knock Out didn't sound that annoyed with her.

"Right now that we have checked over the arena…" _And calmed down the audience… How did Knock Out manage to rile them up that much?_

"We can begin the next battle!" Scrapper sounded happy about that.

"That's us May… I hope you don't mind… If we win… Can I… You know?" Brock actually sounded nervous.

"No Brock, I don't mind if you kiss me." _Since we won't have a choice in the matter anyway…_

"Can the competitors make their way out?" And with Scrapper saying that Brock and May walked out into the arena followed by a mech and femme who looked rather familiar…

"Oh no… It's him…" Brock looked down and hoped that the mech didn't notice him.

"Hello there Brock and… May I think it was…?" Starscream greeted them and Brock looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him up.

"Let's put five minutes on the clock… And let the battle begin!" Scrapper said eagerly from where he was sitting. Both Brock and May noticed one of Starscream's hands holding Arcee's, and then they had a feeling these two were going to be tough to beat.

"Wartortle, take the stage!"

"Croagunk, let's go!" Both pokéballs opened, one with a burst of black flower petals and the other with a spray of pink bubbles. Croagunk appeared in the centre of all the black flower petals and when he spoke the petals flew outwards. The pink bubbles flew out to meet the petals with a wave of Wartortle's tail.

"Alright our turn now! Buneary light it up!"

"Rufflet, go!" Ash hadn't heard of that one so he'd have to look it up on his Pokédex. Both Rufflet and Buneary appeared inside a large red heart created from the ball capsules. This red heart exploded into lots of small ones and then Rufflet and Buneary posed as though they were hugging each other; Rufflet put his wings around Buneary. This isn't what clued May and Brock into how close their trainers were; the fact that their trainers were also cuddling did though! Ash now could look up Rufflet on his Pokédex.

"_Rufflet, the Eaglet Pokémon. They will challenge anything, even strong opponents, without fear. Their frequent fights help them become stronger._"

"Croagunk wind your fist and use Poison Jab!" Croagunk understood his master, and twisted his fist around and then the fist glowed purple with poison. Croagunk darted towards Rufflet and Buneary; who weren't cuddling together now.

"Rufflet use Sky Drop to get Buneary into the air!" Rufflet picked up Buneary carefully using his talons, so as not to scratch her and carried her into the air. Croagunk looked angrily up at Rufflet and Brock lost some points.

"Buneary use Bounce!" Rufflet knew he had to help Buneary now so he let her get into position before he let go. Buneary bounced down onto Croagunk's head and Rufflet fluttered down beside her. Brock's points went down again when Croagunk reeled from the hit.

"Wartortle use Aqua Tail, centre stage!" Wartortle walked out into the centre of the arena and performed a handstand, lifting its tail into the air. Water then shot out of the end of each of Wartortle's tails, like a fountain. Some of the water hit Rufflet and Buneary; this cost Starscream and Arcee points along with how pretty the fountain effect was. Wartortle got down from its handstand and walked back to its master.

"Rufflet use Tailwind!" Rufflet flapped his wings, creating a strong gust of wind.

"Buneary jump and spin!" Buneary jumped and spun the Tailwind around her; this reduced the opponent's points a little bit.

"Now Buneary use Jump Kick!" Buneary landed back on the ground then sprang up into the air pushing one of her yellow back paws outwards. This paw collided with Wartortle and knocked it onto its back. May lost points because Wartortle couldn't get back up very easily, and because Wartortle took a hit.

"Wartortle tuck into your shell!" Wartortle tucked its head, arms and legs into its shell. Hoping its master would think of a way to get it back on its feet.

"Croagunk lift up Wartortle!" Croagunk picked up the shell on the ground near his feet and threw it towards the enemies as fast as he could!

"Not quite what I expected but Wartortle use Water Gun!" Wartortle popped its head out of the shell and fired a stream of water from its mouth. It was spinning as it flew so the water produced a rather pretty effect; again Starscream and Arcee lost points because of this and because the water shocked and hit Rufflet and Buneary.

"Croagunk, Poison Sting!" A bunch of poisonous spikes shot out of Croagunk's mouth again hitting Rufflet and Buneary.

"Time for our combination move I think…" Starscream whispered to Arcee.

"Rufflet use Sky Drop on Croagunk!" Rufflet used his talons to lift Croagunk up into the air, none too gently this time.

"Buneary use Dizzy Punch!" Buneary's ears began to glow in rainbow colours and she lowered her head. Buneary's first punch knocked Wartortle upwards a little, and each punch after that knocked Wartortle up further, as Buneary put more force behind them and built up a rhythm.

"Now Rufflet!" Rufflet dropped Croagunk from the height he was at and Croagunk flailed his arms; trying to slow his descent.

"Gravity Smash!" Both Starscream and Arcee shouted and Brock and Dawn became worried; they thought they knew what was coming now.

About half way from where Rufflet was hovering and the ground Croagunk collided with Wartortle, who had just been knocked into the air by another of Buneary's Dizzy Punches. The force caused them to freeze for a second, then both of them fell downwards. Buneary saw that and hopped out of the way; she didn't want them landing on her! Croagunk and Wartortle both hit the ground with a thump. When the dust cleared they both had swirls in their eyes.

"The winners of this battle are…" As Scrapper spoke both Brock's and May's points circles emptied.

"Starscream and Arcee!" _Ruff-Rufflet! Bun-Buneary!_ Both Pokémon cheered along with Scrapper's announcement. The two that Scrapper mentioned both cuddled each other and then touched their lips together in a quick kiss. The crowd cheered; even though that wasn't quite what they wanted to see. All of the trainers returned their Pokémon to their pokéballs and then walked backstage.

"You know; if that had gone to the wire, I think you guys would have won." Arcee told Brock and May.

"It's just unfortunate that it didn't; I was enjoying that!" May said; she'd never done a double contest styled battle before.

"While we give the arena a quick check over, could the last battle's competitors make their way towards the entry point?"

"What do they mean last battle? I thought the winners would have had to fight." Brock looked confused.

"I think Scrapper meant the last first round battle; it's the semis next…" Arcee sounded a little nervous, so Starscream pulled her back against him, hugging her from behind.

"Ugh… Look, its Romeo and Juliet." Starscream jumped a little; someone had spoken from behind him, he didn't like people sneaking up on him.

"Can I help you Airachnid?" Arcee spoke acidly to her; for some reason Airachnid hated Arcee, though no one thought to ask why.

"Leave the groping each other until when you're out of sight." Kickback sounded annoyed with them as well.

"What, do you not hug your girlfriend Kickback?" Starscream thought those two were hiding something.

"Obviously. Airachnid probably wouldn't want him too anyway." Arcee hoped they'd do something to indicate otherwise.

"He's not my boyfriend!"

"She's not my girlfriend!" Both Airachnid and Kickback said at exactly the same time.

"Right, fine, whatever you say." Starscream answered sarcastically.

"Who's squabbling?" A female voice called.

"It'd better be no one when Ah get there." A male voice answered her.

"Who are they?" May asked Airachnid; hoping to stop them bothering Arcee and Starscream, they both seemed nice enough.

"Why don't you ask them yourself? They are our opponents and so they are on their way here." Airachnid answered just as a blue femme and red mech walked around the corner.

"Who are you two?" May asked them.

"Ah'm Ironhide." The mech answered.

"And I'm Chromia. And you two better not be our opponents…" Chromia looked at Starscream and Arcee nervously.

"Did you not see us win the last match?" Starscream asked Chromia.

"Oh right! I got a little nervous when you were both hovering around here so…"

"Right! Could our competitors make their way into the arena?" Scrapper called out.

Airachnid and Kickback were now stood at one side of the arena; Ironhide and Chromia, the other.

"Let's have five minutes on the clock…" Scrapper walked over to his seat after saying that.

"And let the battle begin!" The clock started to count down.

"Ariados, go!"

"Kricketune, go!" Both pokéballs opened in a flurry of petals, one pink, one orange. A spider shape appeared in the centre of the orange petals, a cricket in the centre of the pink petals. _Aria!_ Ariados cried and the petals blasted out towards the crowd. Kricketune moved his arms outwards from his body and the petals flew to join the orange ones.

"Ah choose Lairon!"

"Let's show them Kecleon!" One pokéball opened in a flurry of rainbow coloured stars, the other a shock of green lightning bolts. Lairon appeared with a roar in the centre of the bolts and Kecleon flipped down towards the ground surrounded by stars. Kecleon landed gently on Lairon's back and the bolts of lightning caused the stars to explode into lots of much smaller ones which, again flew towards the crowd, who were in awe of how pretty that entrance was.

"Ariados use Constrict!" Ariados spat webbing from her mouth until it formed a kind of string that started to snake its way across the arena, towards Kecleon.

"Kecleon jump over that!" Kecleon did as her master commanded and Airachnid lost a few points because the attack missed.

"Kecleon use Screech!"

"Lairon use Roar!" The combined volume of Kecleon's Screech and Lairon's Roar was enough to make most of the crowd cover their ears. Ariados and Kricketune also covered their ears with their front legs, losing their trainers a few points. As soon as both of them had quietened Kickback commanded Kricketune.

"Kricketune use Sing!" Kricketune began to chirp out soothing notes which floated across the arena towards Kecleon. Kecleon didn't try to dodge and so the notes put her to sleep.

"No Kecleon, wake up!" Chromia called to her Pokémon but Kecleon didn't seem to hear her master's pleas.

"Now you're going to get it! Ariados use Night Shade!" A bunch of shadowy shapes that looked like Ariados surrounded Kecleon; with Kecleon asleep there was no way she could dodge, so Chromia lost points.

"Lairon use Protect!" Lairon stood in front of Kecleon and then a greenish shield appeared around both Lairon and Kecleon. All of the phantom Ariados hit the shield and dispersed reducing Airachnid's points a little.

"Since Kricketune can't hurt Kecleon or Lairon, use Bide!" Kricketune began to store energy, clenching his front legs close to his body. The protective shield dispersed and Lairon turned around and spoke to Kecleon. _Lairon-Lair!_ Lairon's voice roused Kecleon from her sleep and Chromia looked relieved.

"Ok Kecleon use Psybeam!" Kecleon shot a rainbow coloured beam at Kricketune. The beam collected around Kricketune forming a rainbow hued cloak. Kickback lost points because Kricketune took a hit, but Chromia lost points because of how pretty the Bide energy was making Kricketune look.

"Lairon use Iron Tail!" Lairon's tail appeared to grow before becoming cloaked in silver. Lairon ran forward; aiming for Ariados.

"Ariados jump onto Lairon's back!" Ariados heard her master and jumped onto Lairon's back. Lairon's tail stopped glowing and Ironhide lost points because Ariados dodged.

"Now use Leech Life!" Ariados lowered her head and sunk her teeth into the metal on Lairon's back. Lairon cried out in pain.

"Lairon shake it off!" Lairon tried wriggling out of Ariados' grip but he couldn't dislodge her. Ironhide's points went down because of this. Ariados then jumped off Lairon's back and moved well away from Kricketune; she knew what was coming next and didn't want to be anywhere near him!

"You ready to shock them Kricketune?" Kickback asked his Pokémon. Kricketune gave his master a look saying 'I'm ready let's go!'

"Alright then, get them!" Kickback pointed forwards and Kricketune moved towards the centre of the arena before unleashing a rainbow coloured blast of energy. Both Kecleon and Lairon looked hurt from that so Chromia and Ironhide lost points.

"We gotta win this. But how?" Ironhide asked Chromia quietly.

"We could try and do a Rainbow Tackle." Chromia suggested and then explained what she wanted Ironhide to do.

"It might just work…" Ironhide was doubtful it would though.

"Lairon use Take Down!" Lairon recklessly charged forwards, aiming for Ariados; he was angry with her for the bite earlier.

"Kecleon use Psybeam on Lairon!" Kecleon looked at her master as if to say 'Are you serious?' When Chromia nodded her head at her Pokémon, Kecleon fired the beam at Lairon. Chromia crossed her fingers, hoping this worked. When the Psybeam hit Lairon it did cloak him in a rainbow hue that looked beautiful.

"Phew…" Chromia looked relieved.

"It ain't hit 'em yet, look!" Ironhide pointed and Chromia saw the glow wasn't holding properly around Lairon. Lairon missed both of the targets because the glow was confusing his sense of direction. The fact the combination attack missed cost Ironhide and Chromia more points.

"Use Leech Life!" Both Kricketune and Ariados ran forward and bit down on their opponents; Lairon in Kricketune's case, Kecleon in Ariados'. However both Lairon and Kecleon escaped from their opponent's Leech Life quickly. Just after that the clock hit zero with a ding.

"Looks like this match hasn't been decided in five minutes either. That means we collect up the competitor's remaining points to determine the winner." Scrapper pointed at the board and once again the clock disappeared and was replaced with two bars for collecting the points together.

"Let's see what would have happened if it was just the femme's battling." Scrapper said and just afterwards the points circles for the femmes began to empty into the bars in centre of the screen. Airachnid's points were quite a bit higher than Chromia's. Even though the crowd could tell just by looking who would win this Scrapper still went through the procedure.

"And now to add on the mech's points, see if it makes a difference." _Even Ah can see it makes no difference._ Ironhide thought; Chromia's points were much lower than Airachnid's and his were only just higher than Kickback's. So after the mech's points circles emptied into the bars Scrapper announced.

"The winners are… Kickback and Airachnid!" Scrapper didn't pause this time; it wasn't close enough to draw it out. Ironhide and Chromia had both heard what Airachnid and Kickback had said; and so they returned their Pokémon to their pokéballs and walked backstage, just far enough so the crowd wouldn't see them watching. Both Airachnid and Kickback then returned their Pokémon to their pokéballs and were just about to walk off, when the crowd started to chant 'Kiss!'

"I'm not sure about this…" Airachnid whispered to Kickback.

"We could just do what the first two did…" Kickback whispered back sounding slightly disappointed. Airachnid seemed to pick up on that and then whispered something else. Kickback seemed to approve of the idea. Airachnid moved her head towards Kickback to give him a kiss on the cheek but Kickback moved his head so their lips touched. Airachnid pulled back, as if shocked but then she and Kickback shared a look and they both touched their lips together once more; more passionately this time. When they both pulled their heads back, there was a stunned silence; the crowd didn't know what to make of that but Scrapper seemed to have the right idea.

"Looks like those two are serious about each other too, or if not they soon will be!" Scrapper thought this might rouse the crowd out of their stupefied gazes, but it didn't. Airachnid and Kickback meanwhile had walked backstage.

"When did you two get serious?" Chromia wasn't fooled.

"I'm not going to answer that."

"May might ask you 'bout it though."

"Scrap. May won't but Misty definitely will!" Airachnid quickly walked into the waiting area followed by Kickback.

"You mean all I had to do to make the crowd happy was give Firestar a quick kiss like you did with Arcee?"

"Yes Knock Out, but you were too busy complaining about having to do it at all, and Firestar was too busy sticking her tongue down your throat!" Another voice answered; Airachnid hoped he wouldn't be around. She walked in and saw everyone gathered about, having a chat before the next battle.

"You aren't boyfriend and girlfriend? Because friends obviously do things like that all the time!" Starscream couldn't resist having a go at Airachnid; she'd annoyed him earlier.

"That your first kiss Airachnid?" Misty asked her.

"Obviously not."

"Then why'd yuh act like it was?" Ironhide asked her; he'd just walked in after the good bit.

"This is going to get interesting or awkward in three… two… one…" Knock Out said while counting down on his fingers.

"Because the rest of Cybertron don't need to know that!" Kickback and Airachnid both had pale blue cheeks.

"And since you decided to ask me this… When did you two start sharing saliva like that?" Firestar asked, hoping that Airachnid would get asked all those questions too.

"A few weeks ago. Again before I left, I got myself a mech and we travelled around together for a while, no points for those of you who guess who that was!"

"You mean a few months ago surely Airachnid; you've been traveling around with us the past few weeks." Lockdown chose an inappropriate time to mention this as Airachnid turned a slightly darker shade of blue.

"Thank you for reminding me of that Lockdown…" Airachnid glared crossly at him. While all of the Transformers seemed to be trying to humiliate Airachnid, Ash Brock and Max had gone off somewhere else.

"Hey, wait for me!" Dawn walked off after them; she wasn't that interested in what was going on; unlike Misty and May.

"You had enough of being around them too?" Max asked; he was a bit young to understand those sorts of things, and he kept turning away when the mechs and femmes kissed, he thought it was a bit gross!

"Starscream obviously wasn't told anything about being discrete about how he feels!" Dawn said angrily.

"I'm beginning to think that's why you thought he was a femme Brock." Ash teased.

"Don't remind me of that, please… It was bad enough going up against him in the first round…"

"I thought boys weren't supposed to let you know how they felt…" Dawn looked confused.

"In that case if he is that expressive when he's in a good mood…" Brock trailed off hoping the others got what he was on about.

"Don't make him angry!" Ash said quickly.

"Let's not keep our competitors waiting any longer… Let's announce the draws for the next round!" Scrapper had spoken at a good time; Airachnid could hide somewhere for a little while. Ash and the others meanwhile had snuck back into the room; where they could see the screen.

_1. Ash & Dawn vs. Knock Out & Firestar_

_2. Starscream & Arcee vs. Kickback & Airachnid_

"Could our first two couples make their way to the arena door please?" Scrapper shouted out. The crowd cheered; they were remembering the kisses.

"Looks like we're up Dawn." Ash looked nervously at her.

"I hope we win, and the crowd leaves us alone this time…"

"So do I." Dawn jumped; it wasn't Ash that answered, it was Knock Out.

"But I shall wish you luck." Knock Out told them before walking towards the backstage door, leaving Ash and Dawn to follow him and Firestar out.

"Let's have five minutes on the clock." Scrapper said from where he was sat.

"And now, let the battle begin!" The clock started up.

"Ready, Pikachu?" Ash asked his Pokémon; who was still perched on his shoulder. Pikachu looked nervously at Ash.

"Don't worry; you'll only be in the pokéball for about ten seconds." Pikachu looked reassured and Ash returned to him to his pokéball and put the ball capsule on it.

"Piplup, spotlight!"

"Pikachu, I choose you!" Both pokéballs opened up, one in a flash of yellow lightning, the other a spray of blue bubbles. In the centre of the bubbles, Piplup appeared, waving his arms about happily. Pikachu appeared in the centre of the lightning bolts and then knocked them into the ground using his tail.

"Chimchar, let's go!"

"Solrock, you're the star!" Two sprays of confetti accompanied the pokéballs opening, one blue, one red. Solrock appeared underneath the blue confetti and Chimchar appeared below the red. Both Pokémon let out a cry and the confetti disappeared.

"Piplup use Bubblebeam!" Piplup sprayed a stream of bubbles towards both opponents. The bubbles appeared to split into two streams; one aiming for Chimchar; the other for Solrock.

"Solrock use Psywave!" Solrock loosed a few waves of psychic energy at the stream of bubbles. The bubbles were burst by the first wave creating blue sparkles but the rest of the beams kept going and knocked Piplup a little from the damage. Dawn lost points because of Piplup's attack being stopped and because Piplup got hit.

"Chimchar use Flame Wheel to dodge!" Chimchar's tail began to burn more brightly before he flipped, making him take the form of a wheel. The fiery wheel weaved between the bubbles and collided with Pikachu. Pikachu slid backwards a little; but didn't seem badly hurt.

"Pikachu use Iron Tail!" Pikachu's tailed glowed silver before he flipped into the air. He swung his tail around into Chimchar before the monkey could get too far away. Chimchar fell forwards but he got up quickly. Ash's points went down just before Knock Out's did; due to how quickly Pikachu responded.

"Shall we try the sparky whirlpool?" Ash whispered to Dawn, who then called out.

"Piplup use Whirlpool!" Piplup produced a huge swirl of water from his mouth. Knock Out and Firestar couldn't help wondering how the penguin managed it.

"Pikachu use Thunderbolt from above the Whirlpool!" Pikachu jumped above the Whirlpool and then let loose some electricity; more gently than he usually did though. The electricity clung to the Whirlpool; making it sparkle. Knock Out and Firestar looked nervously at the Whirlpool; unsure of how to stop or dodge it. This cost them some points.

"How do we stop that?" Knock Out pointed nervously at the Whirlpool.

"I have an idea!" Firestar then turned back to her Pokémon.

"Solrock use Fire Spin, make it go around the Whirlpool!" Solrock did as its master commanded; a fiery vortex formed around the Whirlpool. Surprisingly, or to Knock Out and Firestar it was, the Whirlpool didn't extinguish the Fire Spin; where the Whirlpool touched the Fire Spin, sparks of electricity shot out creating an even more beautiful effect. Solrock slowly made the Fire Spin smaller and dispersed the Whirlpool. Dawn's and Ash's points went down quite a bit; Chimchar hadn't attacked yet.

"Chimchar use Scratch on Piplup!" Chimchar ran forward and scratched his claws across Piplup's tummy. _Pip!_ Piplup shouted angrily; he didn't like being hit. While Chimchar was busy hoping back to his master, Firestar noticed something. _The sun is moving into focus from behind the clouds… Maybe I should… Yes!_

"Piplup use Peck on Solrock!" Piplup jumped forward, spinning around like a drill, his beak glowing and appearing to grow longer.

"Solrock use Solarbeam!" Solrock began to charge solar energy, but Dawn wasn't worried; it took time to charge Solarbeam. Except just before Piplup collided with Solrock, a blast of brilliant white light shot out of Solrock. _How?_ Dawn thought before she looked up, the sun was perfectly visible and not obscured; that's why Solarbeam charged so quickly. Piplup landed in front of his master with swirls in his eyes.

"No, Piplup!" Dawn returned Piplup to his pokéball watching as her points circle drained to zero.

"I hope you can KO one of their Pokémon, Ash…"

"I hope so too…" Ash didn't sound sure; Chimchar and Solrock hadn't taken many hits.

"Pikachu use Quick Attack, before Solrock can recover!" Pikachu darted forward, but Ash forgot about one thing.

"Chimchar use Ember!" Chimchar spat embers in front of Solrock; and Pikachu ran straight into them; Chimchar again hadn't done his attack yet. Pikachu seemed hurt from the hits. Ash's points would have to be kept as high as possible. Even though Pikachu had taken more hits than Solrock and Chimchar, Ash's points were still just higher than Knock Out's and Firestar's. _Gotta win this somehow… I need to get Chimchar knocked out…_

"Chimchar use Flame Wheel!" Chimchar again came flying forwards, towards Pikachu.

"Solrock use Fire Spin on that Flame Wheel!" Firestar's Pokémon span the fire carefully around Chimchar but, unluckily, Chimchar couldn't hold the attacks together and slid to a stop in the middle of the arena.

"Pikachu use Volt Tackle!" Pikachu ran forwards; this time cloaked in electricity. Chimchar just struggled to his feet before Pikachu collided with him; the collision sent him flying backwards and he hit the ground. Hard.

"Come on Chimchar! I know you can do this!" Chimchar heard his master and then slowly struggled back to his feet. Just as Chimchar stood back up, everyone heard a ding. The clock had hit zero.

"A lot of these matches appear to be taking longer than five minutes to decide! So let's see what would have happened if it was just the mechs battling; since we know what would have happened if it was just the femmes." Scrapper told the audience. As he was saying this the bars appeared in the middle of the screen; where the clock was. Then, just after he spoke, Ash's and Knock Out's points circles drained into the bars in the middle. Ash's points were quite a bit higher than Knock Out's but, unlike Ash, Knock Out still had Firestar's points to add on. Ash looked at the difference between his points and Knock Out's, then at the amount of points Firestar had left. _I can't tell; it's too tricky to try and guess if Firestar's points would match mine…_ Ash thought before Scrapper spoke.

"Now let us see which team has won this battle!" Ash watched nervously as Firestar's points slowly drained from the circle, into the bar in the middle. Ash then saw it draw level for a second but then also saw that Firestar still had points left that were being added on. When the points stopped Firestar's had gone higher than Ash's but not by as large an amount as you'd expect.

"The winners are… Knock Out and Firestar!" Ash walked to the centre of the arena and picked up Pikachu.

"You did your best Pikachu." Ash told him. _Pika!_ Pikachu responded not sounding too bothered by the loss. Ash and Dawn then walked off stage and somewhere they couldn't see what was happening outside.

"I hope they left that 'kiss for the winner' in the last round…" Knock Out walked over and picked up Chimchar before returning him to his pokéball. Firestar returned Solrock to its pokéball and then the crowd decided to start up the chant of 'kiss'.

"Not this again…"

"Knocks, pretend that it's just me and you…" Knock Out then gave her a romantic look and said quietly.

"Come here, darling…" Firestar walked over to him, a little nervously. Knock Out wrapped his arms around her and then the crowd went silent. Knock Out lightly touched his lips against Firestar's neck and slowly moved upwards, towards her lips, tracing some imaginary line with his kisses. Firestar was wondering where he'd got this sudden boldness from. Knock out paused for a few seconds before pushing his lips against hers. Both of them slid their tongues out to caress the others mouth for a little while, before both of them pulled back; both of their eyes wore exactly the same look, one wanting more. There was another stunned silence before the crowd quickly started cheering and wolf-whistling at them.

"Whoa…" Was all Scrapper could manage to say; he was as shocked as everyone else, Knock Out had been reluctant to kiss Firestar last time, where did that boldness come from?! While Scrapper tried to calm the crowd down again; Knock Out and Firestar snuck off backstage.

"Why'd you kiss me like that? I thought you didn't want that to happen again."

"Did you see the look on Scrapper's face though? No one would have been expecting that!" Knock Out now sounded rather happy he did go through with that.

"Not another Robotic Romeo…"

"Airachnid, you're one to talk, you and your boyfriend shared a rather passionate kiss after your battle." Firestar sounded annoyed with Airachnid; she was being hypocritical.

"Knock it off you two. We don't need to start squabbling again."

"You're just nervous you can't 'top that' Screamer." Knock Out decided to try and wind him up.

"Don't call me that!"

"Why, has Arcee not discovered that you are one yet?" Kickback asked suggestively.

"Shhhhh… Don't say things like that! There are younglings about!" Arcee said and everyone decided not to continue on that train of conversation.

"I dare you to cradle Arcee in your arms and kiss her if you win." Knock Out knew Starscream would take him up; Starscream didn't like being proved to be a coward.

"Fine. I'll do it, if just to prove to you I can, in fact 'top that'." Starscream sounded smug.

"And Airachnid, I dare you to straddle Kickback's hips when you kiss, if you win." Firestar hoped Airachnid would take her up on that; it was a hot looking position.

"What do you mean?" Airachnid was nervous, she didn't like the sound of that!

"Like this…" Knock Out seemed to know what Firestar was getting at and sat with his legs stretched out in front of him. Firestar then knelt down; placing one of her legs either side of his. She then touched her lips against his for a few seconds before getting up.

"Like that." Knock Out said sounding a little too happy.

"I'm not sure…" Kickback didn't sound sure of doing that.

"We'll do it." Airachnid did though; she did say that she wasn't in to being romantic but secretly, she wanted to do all that sort of thing!

"Now that we have given the arena a check over; could our competitors make their way to the arena?" Scrapper announced over the intercoms.

"Let's go before anything else gets organised…" Starscream quickly walked towards the doors followed soon after by Kickback, Airachnid and Arcee.

"Let's have five minutes on the clock…" Scrapper paused while the clock flashed up on the screen.

"And, let the battle begin!"

"Kricketune, go!"

"Ariados, go!" Two pokéballs opened, producing ribbons from the opening, one black, one white. In places the ribbons crossed over producing a rather pretty crosshatch effect. In the centre of the black ribbons stood Ariados, in the centre of the white ribbons stood Kricketune. The ribbons floated upwards to surround them, like a flower bud, then the ribbons floated back down to the floor and dispersed.

"Clefable, light it up!"

"Fearow, go!" A huge cloud of black smoke erupted from one of the pokéballs, black hearts from the other. A shadowy shape appeared in the centre of the smoke; it looked like a pixie. _Clef!_ It responded and the smoke flew outwards; towards the audience. Shortly after the smoke cleared, a bird swooped down to the floor; followed by a trail of black hearts. The hearts collided with the floor and exploded into black sparkles. Fearow screeched, sounding slightly annoyed; he didn't like all the hearts chasing him.

"Kickback, have you got a plan to take down that Fearow?" Airachnid whispered.

"Hit it hard and hope it faints?" Kickback didn't think that was a particularly good idea, but he couldn't think of another.

"Use Leech Life on Fearow!" Both Ariados and Kricketune's teeth glowed and appeared to grow a little bit. Both of them ran forward; with the intention of biting down on Fearow's wings.

"Fearow, dodge it!" Fearow unfurled his wings and fluttered into the sky; well out of the reach of the bug Pokémon. Both Airachnid and Kickback lost points.

"Clefable use Meteor Mash!" Clefable closed her eyes and focused her energy. Her fist then began to glow with an eerie white light. She ran forward; aiming at Ariados. She stopped before reaching the Pokémon though. _Huh? I thought it was going to punch Ariados there…_ Clefable swung her fist; not looking like it was going to hit, but then a meteor appeared in the air near Ariados. The meteor collided with Ariados as Clefable finished the punching motion. Clefable then walked back to her master with a cheeky flutter of her wings.

"Fearow use Assurance!" Fearow's eyes glittered darkly; a large black fist appeared in the air next to Fearow and this swung for Ariados. When it collided Ariados was thrown into the air from the force of the hit. Ariados landed back on the ground and struggled to her feet. _Well that didn't work… How do we beat that Fearow?_ Airachnid pondered something then got an idea.

"Ariados use Fury Swipes on Clefable!" Ariados ran forwards, aiming her sharp front legs at Clefable. Clefable didn't try to dodge; her master would have told her if she had to. Clefable got attacked, once. Twice. Three times. Clefable didn't seem to hurt; but Arcee's points went down.

"Clefable use Metronome!" Clefable raised her paw into the air in a pointing motion and she waved to the crowd; it seemed innocent enough but Clefable was just choosing a move. Clefable lowered both of her paws until it looked like she was trying to touch her toes. No one noticed the cracks forming in the ground under Ariados; everyone was too busy watching Clefable. When Clefable raised her paws into the air, a stream of magma shot out of the ground; straight into Ariados' tummy, knocking her into the air.

"Wow! Clefable responded to the Fury Swipes with Earth Power!" Scrapper sounded shocked; Metronome could go very badly wrong if the wrong move came up. Ariados fell back down to the ground with swirls in her eyes.

"Ariados return…" Airachnid had hoped Ariados would survive longer than that; it wasn't even half way through the time yet!

"Kricketune use Sing on Fearow!" Kricketune chirped out some notes; which floated across the arena towards Fearow.

"No you don't! Fearow use Fly to dodge!" Fearow flew up into the air just before the music notes hit him. He wouldn't swoop down until next turn; maybe Kricketune would forget about him…

"Kricketune use Fury Swipes on Clefable!" Kricketune drew his forearms across his body as if pretending to sharpen them and he ran towards Clefable.

"Clefable use Attract!" _Oh no! I forgot Arcee taught most of her Pokémon attract… Kickback is going to struggle to do anything now…_ Airachnid thought. Clefable looked cutely at Kricketune. Kricketune stopped, wondering why Clefable was looking at him like that. _Tune?_ Clefable winked at Kricketune, whose face turned a little pink. But Clefable wasn't quite done yet. She walked towards Kricketune; again fluttering her wings, but cutely this time and gave him a small peck on the cheek. Kricketune's eyes lit up with pink hearts and so did some of the audience's; they thought this was adorable!

"I wish I was in Kricketune's place right now…" Scrapper said quietly; unaware he'd just told everyone that; he had a secret liking for Clefables and Clefairys, but he wasn't going to tell anyone that!

"Now, get him Fearow!" Fearow swooped down from the sky; aiming straight for Kricketune.

"Kricketune, dodge it, quick!" But Kricketune didn't hear Kickback; he was too busy day dreaming about Clefable. So when Fearow collided with him, he went flying and snapped out of his day dream. But the lack of a day dream didn't help him keep his eyes open. He hit the ground with swirls in his eyes.

"So the winners are… Starscream and Arcee!" Scrapper told the audience; who were all sniggering at him.

"What?"

"You informed them of your obsession with a certain small, cute, **pink** Pokémon named Clefable." Hook told him loud enough for everyone to hear.

"I'm never going to be allowed to forget this…" Scrapper sounded humiliated; he'd wanted that to remain a secret. He'd been after a Clefairy or Cleffa since he'd went to Sinnoh, but could never find any! While Scrapper had been trying very hard not to blush about having **that** secret revealed, Airachnid and the others had returned their Pokémon to their pokéballs and Airachnid and Kickback had walked off backstage leaving only Starscream and Arcee on stage beside the judges. The crowd finally looked over and noticed Starscream was holding Arcee, princess style. The crowd seemed more interested in them now, so Starscream lent his head down and touched his lips against Arcee's for a few seconds before standing upright. He then carried her backstage before Scrapper could have a chance to comment on it. Just behind the door Knock Out was waiting for them, with Firestar.

"I would say something but…" Knock Out seemed to think that it was annoying; he had thought up a rather amusing forfeit for Starscream to do.

"Aw… Is he your Prince Charming, Arcee?" Firestar however thought it was cute.

"What, do you think he's charming too?" Arcee teased.

"Err… Sort of? I'm not sure; how would you answer that if I asked you if Knock Out was?"

"I'd have said very."

"You do realise I could easily drop you…" Starscream interrupted Arcee before she could say anything else.

"Just to wind him up. You're so easy to tease, darling. You know I love you."

"And I suppose… I love you too." Starscream replied before leaning his head down and kissing Arcee again. Knock Out pretended to retch; he wasn't sure he wanted to be hanging around if those two were going to keep doing that.

"Hey! You were apparently snogging your girlfriend earlier in the waiting area; so don't you start!" Arcee was annoyed with Knock Out for that.

"I don't have to watch if I'm the lucky one…" Knock Out retorted.

"Hey you lot! We can hear your arguments from right in the waiting area!" Misty had walked through to try and sort them out, and see if she could get anything else to gossip with the other femmes about! All of them looked sheepishly at Misty; who shouted louder than all of them put together!

"And what were you arguing about?"

"Knock Out thinks its gross when us two are being romantic." Arcee told Misty.

"He's worse than you two though!" Misty agreed.

"Exactly the point." Starscream told Misty.

"Why are you still holding Arcee?" Misty could understand Starscream carrying like that for a little while; but not for length of time he had been!

"Because I'm comfortable." Arcee replied for him and snuggled in.

"It's now time for the final round! Competitors make your way in!" Scrapper had heard them arguing too!

"Good luck, I suppose…" Starscream let Arcee climb out of his arms and walk into the arena beside him. Knock Out was about to reply the same thing but Starscream had already gone out into the arena.

"This is the final round of the Crystal City Tournament! The winners of this round shall both receive a Spirit Crystal!" Scrapper called out to the crowd, who had gone very quiet. Scrapper walked over to his seat and the clock appeared on the board.

"Team 1, Ready?!" Knock Out and Firestar both nodded their heads once.

"Team 2, Ready?!" Starscream and Arcee both nodded their assent too.

"Right! Let the final performance begin!" Scrapper called out; and the clock began to count down.

"Bellossom, light it up!"

"Absol, go!" Pink petals and black hearts shot out of the ball capsules when they opened up. In the centre of the cherry blossom vortex, stood Bellossom. She looked a little nervous; this might have been her first battle. She spun around and the petals appeared to dance along with her; as if moved by a soft breeze. When Bellossom stopped spinning, the petals shot towards the crowd. The hearts all appeared to combine together, to form a dog like shape. _Absol!_ The shape said and suddenly the hearts all flew off to join the petals.

"Are you sure you want to use her Knocks?" Firestar whispered.

"I think she'll listen; she has strong opponents." Knock Out whispered back.

"Alright then, Vulpix you're the star!"

"Let's go Numel!" A cloud of white smoke erupted from one of the pokéballs, the other one sent out a flurry of orange fire. In the centre of the flames was Vulpix. She looked nervous as well; maybe because it was her first battle too? _Vulpix!_ The fire cascaded away from her and towards the crowd in a sort of fiery wave. The white smoke had a camel like shape in the centre of it but it didn't seem to be interested in what was going on around it. When Numel lay down, looking ready to take a nap, the smoke cleared from around it.

"Come on Numel, stand up!" Numel looked at her master as if to say 'is this guy for real?' and lay her head back down on the ground; this time facing her opponents. _Wait… These look strong… Maybe I'll get up so I can beat them…_ Numel thought before climbing to her feet. _At last! She finally listens to me!_ Knock Out seemed happier now; Numel appeared to be doing what he commanded.

"I'll start, Vulpix use Confuse Ray on Absol!" Vulpix looked nervously at Absol and then her eyes unleashed a light purple ray at Absol.

"Absol use Swords Dance!" A pair of swords made of light appeared in the air next to Absol. Both of these sliced at the Confuse Ray, producing little ribbons of purple light; that missed Absol. Firestar's points went down because the attack didn't work.

"Numel use Earth Power on Absol!" Numel's back appeared to swell a little, so she ran into the centre of the arena. A few seconds later, lava shot out of the mini volcano on Numel's back like a fountain.

"Dodge it!" Both Absol and Bellossom jumped out of the way of the falling lava, but Vulpix didn't; she absorbed the fire using her Flash Fire ability. Knock Out's points went down twice; once because Numel's attack missed and the second time because…

"Why'd I get penalised twice? Numel's attack missed, so I should only get penalised once."

"Numel used Lava Plume. You commanded she should use Earth Power." Hook said as though that explained things.

"She never listens to a command I give her!"

"That is your fault for not training her properly." Hook said cruelly and then pointed to the arena; indicating he was saying no more on the matter.

"Bellossom use Giga Drain on Numel!" Bellossom focused her attention on Numel; before sending out some green coloured energy. Numel's master wasn't paying attention; so he didn't see Numel was about to be hit. When the green energy touched Numel, a red light surrounded Numel and a green one surrounded Bellossom. Numel cried out as her energy was drained. Knock Out's points went down again. When the light disappeared from around Numel, Starscream commanded his Pokémon.

"Ready Razor Wind, Absol!" Absol focused his energies on producing a strong scythe made out of air. A breeze began to blow from somewhere.

"Bellossom use Acid on Vulpix!" The flowers on Bellossom's head began excrete a poisonous liquid that collected into a ball shape. When she thought the ball was big enough, Bellossom sent it flying at Vulpix.

"Vulpix use Quick Attack to dodge!" Vulpix darted forward; under the Acid ball's arc in the air. A few drops of acid landed in front of and behind Vulpix when she was running, but she still managed to knock Bellossom flying backwards with the force of the collision. Arcee's points decreased because Bellossom's attack missing and because Bellossom got hit.

"Numel use Rock Slide!" _Please listen to me…_ Knock Out couldn't help thinking. He felt the ground start to shake and groaned; when was this Numel going to start actually doing what he asked. Numel pounded her feet into the ground; completely oblivious to how bad her disobedience was making her master look. Knock Out's points went down again.

"Quick Vulpix, get on Numel's back!" Vulpix jumped over towards Numel, and then up onto her back. Numel still pounded away making the ground shake beneath Absol and Bellossom. It didn't take long for the tremors to take both of them off their feet. Bellossom quickly stood up again but Absol stood up more slowly; trying to keep his focus on the attack. Vulpix jumped down before Numel threw her off.

"Vulpix use Flamethrower on Bellossom!" Vulpix wagged her tails before spitting a strong stream of fire at Bellossom. Bellossom sidestepped and dodged some, but not all, of the flames. Arcee's points went down but so did Firestar's, as it wasn't a direct hit.

"Bellossom use Magical Leaf!" Bellossom started to dance around and rainbow hued leaves began to float around her, but they didn't move; they looked like they were waiting for something.

"Now Absol! Use Razor Wind!" A strong gust of wind blew from where Absol was standing, knocking the leaves at Vulpix and Numel. This wasn't the only bad thing though; the gust turned into scythes of air that mixed with the leaves to produce a nasty looking wall of attacks.

"Vulpix get out of there!"

"You too Numel!" Numel ignored her master again but Vulpix tried to run away from the leaves but she wasn't fast enough. Both she and Numel got hit by the scythes and the leaves.

"Leaf Scythe!" Both Starscream and Arcee called out. Vulpix got up quite quickly as well; she wasn't anywhere near beat yet! Numel struggled to her feet slowly; she was beginning to doubt she could win this and was pondering whether a nap was a good idea.

"Numel… Please use Rock Slide this time…" Knock Out sounded doubtful; he figured there was no way that Numel would ever… _Wait! That looks like… _Knock Out didn't have chance to finish the thought before rocks appeared from nowhere and landed on Absol and Bellossom.

"What?! That Pokémon actually does obey him?!" Hook sounded shocked; he was just about to take some more points off Knock Out for Numel's disobedience.

"Absol use Bite!" Absol ran forward and aimed for Numel. He bit down as hard as he could on the hump on Numel's back.

"Numel use Lava Plume!" Numel thought about it but then Knock Out saw the ground start to crack around Bellossom. _Oh no… That's Earth Power. Maybe she's just confused…_ Knock Out put his head in his hands; Numel seemed to be a lost cause. Lava shot up from underneath Bellossom and knocked her into the air. Bellossom managed to land on her feet but she wobbled a little.

"Vulpix use Secret Power to get Absol off Numel!" Vulpix sent a spray of stars at Absol by flicking her tail around behind her. Absol quickly let go after he got hit. _We might just win this… My points are ahead of Arcee's and Knock Out's and Starscream's are level._ Firestar thought.

"Bellossom use Magical Leaf again!" More leaves floated next to a dancing Bellossom. This time the leaves flew after Vulpix who didn't have time to dodge. Vulpix got back to her feet but wobbled a little. Just after that the clock dinged; indicating time was up.

"Whoa… They didn't let up! That was action packed all the way through… Everyone agree?" Scrapper asked the crowd; who responded by cheering as loudly as they could.

"Right! Now all we need to do is work out who won that amazing battle!" Scrapper said and then the clock was replaced by two bars.

"First we will see how this match would have ended if it was a one on one between the femmes." The points began to drain from the points circles into the bars in the middle. Slowly the bars filled up and the crowd went silent. When the bars stopped everyone was shocked; they were both level!

"It looks like it would have been a draw! Let's see if adding the mech's points will determine a winner…" Scrapper sounded nervous; he wasn't sure what to do if it was a draw here too! Again the points slowly moved into the bars. If anyone was looking at the circles, they could have been forgiven for thinking it was a dead heat between the two teams; it was very close. Scrapper looked at the two bars. They were both stopped and looked level again. _They can't be level… I hope they aren't… Wait… That one is just higher!_ Scrapper and the other judges all noticed at the same time; one team's bar was just above the other one; there would have only been a point or two in it!

"It looks like the winners are…" Scrapper paused for about thirty seconds.

"Starscream and Arcee!" The two of them looked as shocked as everyone in the crowd.

"We lost…" Knock Out looked disappointed.

"How else can you train Numel unless she battles? And besides, you could have lost more points if you chose a different Pokémon if they took more damage."

"That's enough thinking about 'What If?' It won't change the outcome…"

"And it definitely won't cheer you up." Knock Out turned around; Arcee had walked over to talk to him.

"I think this might have been something to do with Hook getting his revenge; since he penalised you every time Numel disobeyed; I would have only penalised you once." Starscream sounded truthful enough.

"Anyway… Congratulations on winning." Knock Out said before returning Numel to her pokéball and walking off backstage. Firestar shrugged and followed him, leaving Arcee and Starscream to receive the Spirit Crystal.

"Now let us congratulate our winners." Scrapper walked over towards Starscream and Arcee; who were busy giving Absol and Bellossom a check over. Hook and Elita followed him; each carrying a tray with a necklace type item on it.

"To commemorate your victory at this tournament, we present you with a Spirit Crystal." Elita gave Arcee the Spirit Crystal she had, Hook gave Starscream his.

"And that's it for the Crystal City Tournament! I hope you all enjoyed participating as much as I've enjoyed watching!" Scrapper then walked off backstage followed by the others in the main arena.

Backstage…

"Well done! I can't believe how close that was! I don't think a contest battle I had has been as close as that!" Dawn sounded impressed.

"Is there anything else to do here?" Misty asked, sounding impatient.

"We'd better meet up with the others who live in Crystal City… The other femmes will want to meet my now not-so-secret boyfriend…" Firestar sounded nervous.

"They'll be waiting outside, come on, let's go!" Ash quickly ran off towards the door; which meant Misty, May, Max, Brock, Dawn, Knock Out and Firestar had to run to catch up. Ash looked nervous when he got outside and stopped in the doorway, causing the rest of the group to collide with him. When they'd managed to untangle themselves, they all got to their feet.

"Not these guys again…" May sounded annoyed.

"But that one looks different…" Max pointed to a mech that looked more like a crocodile than a shark.

"That one is an Allicon, Max. It is still a Quintesson Grunt." Knock Out answered him.

"You're not going anywhere!" The Sharkticon and Allicon both said before transforming.

"I will get revenge on those who stopped Rexian!" The Allicon shouted.

"And I will stop anyone who gets in my way!" The Sharkticon roared. Both of them advanced towards the group menacingly.

**AN: Another Cruel Cliff-hanger! *Looks at how many words the chapter is* Wow! How did I write that much? On a separate note Firestar's Ponyta, Kickback's Kricketune, Ironhide's Lairon, Chromia's Kecleon, Starscream's Fearow and Absol and Arcee's Bellossom are all based on my own. Firestar's Vulpix is based on my Vulpix (The same one as Knock Out's). Powerglide's Swablu was based on my Altaria. Starscream's Rufflet was based on my Braviary. Arcee's Buneary was based on my Lopunny.**


	12. Eruptions of Affection!

"_You're not going anywhere!" The Sharkticon and Allicon both said before transforming._

"_I will get revenge on those who stopped Rexian!" The Allicon shouted._

"_And I will stop anyone who gets in my way!" The Sharkticon roared. Both of them advanced towards the group menacingly._

"That's what you think!" Ash sounded confident; he'd beaten a Sharkticon before.

"Yeah; we'll beat you!" Misty sounded ready to battle as well.

"What's the matter? You Crystal City dwellers all cowards?!" The Sharkticon shouted at the Transformers.

"I wish these attacks would stop getting more frequent…" Moonracer sounded worried; she heard tales of Quintesson lackeys stealing Pokémon from the Cybertronians they defeated in battle.

"These Quints just don't know when to quit." Lockdown told them.

"Hey, Knocks we could take them! Why don't you and I challenge them?" Firestar suggested quietly.

"Ash seems eager enough though…"

"You're not afraid of them are you?"

"Of… Of course not!" Knock Out tried as hard as he could to sound confident.

"Good. Then you can use Numel to help train her up." Firestar didn't notice how scared Knock Out now looked; Numel would make a fool out him… again!

"We'll challenge you!" Firestar stepped forward and Knock Out, reluctantly, stood next to her.

"Oh look! It's the fraidy-mech who screams at the sight of Sludge!" The Allicon smugly said. Some of the Transformers had to try not to laugh; that sounded almost like it would have happened.

"I did not scream!"

"You might not have done but I was informed by the two Sharkticons we sent, you did jump out of the way like a femme!" The Allicon was purposefully trying to wind him up now.

"And you forgot something; _last time…_" The Sharkticon said sinisterly.

"Oh, that's a good idea! Go Krokorok!" A Pokémon that looked like a brown crocodile with black stripes appeared. Ash didn't know what that was so he looked it up on his Pokédex.

"_Krokorok, the Desert Croc Pokémon. The special membrane covering its eyes can sense the heat of objects, so it can see its surroundings even in darkness._"

"Krokorok use Mud Slap!" Krokorok had as evil a smirk on his face as his master. Mud collected in his palms and he looked around for a Pokémon. The Allicon pointed at the red mech Krokorok could see and Krokorok flung a ball-like shape of mud at Knock Out. He quickly jumped out of the way but then he saw that Krokorok still had mud in his other hand.

"Oh no…" Just after Knock Out spoke, the other mud ball flew at him and he had to jump out of the way again. Krokorok sniggered at him; this mech was a coward, it was only a bit of mud!

"Go Vulpix!" Firestar called out her Vulpix, who seemed annoyed at Krokorok for being mean to her master's partner. _Vul-PIX!_ Vulpix shouted. Krokorok then looked around at Vulpix. _Finally a brave opponent!_ Krokorok was beginning to get bored of chasing the coward.

"Go Carvanha!" The Sharkticon called out his Pokémon too.

"Come on fraidy-mech! It's your turn now!" The Sharkticon joined in taunting Knock Out; they were trying to get him worked up so he did something stupid.

"Fine… I'm not afraid of you! Go Numel!" The Allicon looked like he was trying not to laugh. _He didn't say… Oh it is!_

"What's that Pokémon going to do? Take a nap like last time?" The Allicon sniggered; his trick had worked, Knock Out had sent out his worst Pokémon.

"I'll start then." The Sharkticon looked pleased.

"Carvanha use Crunch on Numel!" Carvanha appeared to swim through the air towards Numel. He opened his jaws and then clamped them down on Numel's back.

"Numel use Lava Plume!" Numel wriggled a little; trying to get Carvanha off her back. Rocks appeared in the air above Krokorok and then slammed down on him. Hard. _That's not Lava Plume!_ The Allicon looked annoyed; this Pokémon used a better attack than its master told it to.

"Krokorok use Assurance!" A large black fist appeared in the air next to Krokorok but it didn't swing for Numel. Vulpix was knocked backwards by the hit.

"No! Come on Vulpix!" Firestar looked worried. Vulpix then stood up and confidently cried _Vulpix!_

"Use Secret Power!" Vulpix ran towards Carvanha and slammed her body into him as hard as she could. Carvanha flew through the air and landed in front of his master.

"Carvanha get up and use Rage on Vulpix!" Carvanha flew through the air again, this time aiming for Vulpix. Vulpix looked nervously at the Savage Pokémon swimming for her.

"Vulpix, jump over Carvanha!" Vulpix jumped over Carvanha and dodged his swipe with his tail fin. Carvanha then quickly swam back to his master.

"Numel use Earth Power!" Numel looked like she was going to obey her master for once, walking forward into the middle of the make-shift arena, but then fire shot out of the hump on her back. The lava scorched Krokorok and Carvanha but Vulpix just absorbed the hit and strengthened her fire type attacks. Krokorok was barely able to stand up after that hit, and the Rock Slide earlier.

"Vulpix, quick, use Flamethrower!" Vulpix shot a stream of fire from her mouth at Krokorok, who fell to his knees from the damage. The Allicon didn't try to encourage him to stand up. Krokorok wobbled a little and then fell forward from the damage he'd taken, with swirls in his eyes.

"Grr… Krokorok return. Go Gastly!" A sphere shaped purple Pokémon appeared.

"Gastly use Confuse Ray on Vulpix!" Gastly's eyes glowed an eerie light purple and Vulpix looked confusedly back at him. _Vul?_ Gastly stuck his tongue out rudely at Firestar.

"Grr… Vulpix use Quick Attack!" Vulpix ran forward towards Carvanha; she couldn't hurt Gastly with Quick Attack, but she tripped over right in front of Carvanha. Vulpix looked unnerved; she never tripped up when attacking.

"Carvanha use Crunch on the confused fox." The Sharkticon sounded a little bored; one Pokémon wasn't very strong, the other didn't listen to a word its master said. Carvanha leant his head down and bit down on Vulpix's tails. Vulpix cried out in pain, before swirls appeared in her eyes.

"No, Vulpix!" Firestar sounded worried; as if Vulpix was her best Pokémon.

"Vulpix return… You did your best…" Vulpix disappeared back inside her pokéball, before Firestar produced another one.

"Go Solrock!" Solrock appeared next to Numel and Knock Out noticed something. _Solrock floats above the ground, maybe… Yes! I'll try it!_

"Numel use Earthquake!" Numel moved to the centre of the arena again, and Knock Out groaned and covered his eyes; he thought she was going to use Lava Plume again. But then Numel started to pound her feet rhythmically on the ground, making it shake._ Numel actually obeyed me? Wow! Maybe I can actually win this!_ Numel was oblivious to what her master was thinking and continued to stamp her feet and make the ground shake. Eventually Carvanha fell down; both Gastly and Solrock didn't get hit due to their levitate ability. Carvanha got back up really quickly but this wasn't what unnerved the Sharkticon or the others battling. Numel started to glow with a brilliant white light.

"What the…?" Max asked.

"Numel is evolving!" Brock shouted excitedly, maybe Knock Out would finally be able to battle using her! Numel grew bigger in the light and when the light faded an orange cow-like Pokémon with two mini volcanoes on its back stood in Numel's place. _Camerupt!_ The new Pokémon shouted. _Oh no! Now how am I going to get her to listen to me? She's even bigger than before!_ Knock Out looked even more nervous than before; he thought Camerupt might turn on him!

"Just because that Numel evolved, doesn't mean you're going to win! Gastly use Sucker Punch on Camerupt!" The Allicon sounded confident. Gastly floated forward and then stopped beside Camerupt. A small hand shape appeared out of Gastly and this hand then slapped Camerupt's face a couple of times. Camerupt looked slightly annoyed, but she didn't shout about the pain, like Numel would have done. Gastly then stuck his tongue out at Knock Out.

"I'm beginning to get really annoyed by that Gastly…" Knock Out whispered to Firestar.

"I think you should tell Camerupt to go after him then! Camerupt appears to have a completely different personality to Numel." Firestar pointed out and Knock Out then realised she was right.

"Camerupt use Rock Slide!" Camerupt shut her eyes and then rocks appeared above both Carvanha and Gastly. When she opened them, the rocks fell down onto Gastly and Carvanha. Gastly quickly floated back into the air but Carvanha didn't get up; he had swirls in his eyes.

"Carvanha return. Go Solosis!" The Sharkticon shouted. A Pokémon that looked like a body cell with eyes appeared. Ash didn't know what that Pokémon was either so he checked it on his Pokédex.

"_Solosis, the Cell Pokémon. Because their bodies are enveloped in a special liquid, they can survive in any environment._"

"Solosis use Hidden Power!" Sparkly energy packets appeared around Solosis, who then let the packets fly at Camerupt. Camerupt didn't seem too badly hurt; the Hidden Power was Ghost type. _Camerupt!_ She cried happily; she was enjoying this battle! _How can she be so different? She is very obedient now thankfully…_ Knock Out seemed happy that the former Numel listened to him at last.

"Gastly use Night Shade!" Shadowy shapes began to form around Solrock, who thought they looked eerily like Gastly. These Gastly shadows then formed a circle; meaning the only way for Solrock to escape would be to float higher. The Gastlys didn't give time for that though; they flew inwards and collided hard with Solrock. Solrock spun around a little; that hurt!

"Solrock use Psywave!" Solrock looked thoughtfully at Gastly. _This will teach you!_ It thought before unleashing a wave of psychic energy at Gastly. Gastly was knocked downwards by the force of the Psywave. Gastly floated back upwards weakly.

"I think Lava Plume would work really well but…"

"But you don't want to hurt Solrock. Don't worry; I'll make sure Solrock doesn't get too badly hurt. You use Lava Plume Knocks." Firestar reassured him.

"Alright then! Camerupt use Lava Plume!" Camerupt walked forward happily before both of her mini volcanoes erupted; spraying lava towards all of the combatants.

"Solrock use Cosmic Power!" Stars swirled around Solrock raising its defense and special defense.

"Solosis use Snatch!" Solosis' eyes glowed and stars began to swirl around him too; boost his defense and special defense. Solrock, Solosis and Gastly all got hit but only Solosis and Solrock got up from the hit; Gastly now had swirls in his eyes.

"Grr… Gastly return." The Allicon glared at Knock Out; why'd that fraidy-mech's Numel have to evolve?

"Solosis use Hidden Power on Solrock!" More packets of sparkly energy appeared beside Solosis. When these began to fly towards Solrock, Knock Out had an idea.

"Camerupt protect Solrock!" Camerupt darted in the way of the energy packets and took the hit. _Sol…_ Solrock spoke. It seemed to be saying 'thank you'.

"Now use Earth Power!" Camerupt focused and cracks appeared in the ground below Solosis. Lava then sprayed out of the cracks and into the bottom of Solosis. Solosis cried out in pain and then swirls appeared where his eyes should be.

"How! Solosis return." The Sharkticon couldn't believe he'd lost; to a femme and a fraidy-mech.

"Grr… We'll get you next time!" The Allicon said before both he and the Sharkticon ran off.

"Who's the fraidy-mechs now?" Knock Out shouted after them. He then looked for Camerupt, who wasn't near Solrock and had disappeared. He then looked around when he felt a wet slimy sensation on his back.

"What the… Oh!" Knock Out then realised what the sensation was when Camerupt ran her tongue over his face when he turned around.

"Yes, you were a good girl Camerupt…" Knock Out paused to try and keep Camerupt's drool out of his mouth; she was licking him furiously.

"And you won the battle…" Camerupt didn't appear to hear Knock Out and continued licking him.

"But… Would you please stop licking me?!" Knock Out raised his voice at the end. Camerupt then stopped licking him, but at this point Knock Out was completely covered in drool.

"Yuck…" Knock Out then shook himself to try and get the drool off.

"It seems she isn't only obedient; she is affectionate too!" Misty was trying not to giggle; Knock Out was shaking himself like a Growlithe who'd got caught in the rain! Firestar and Knock Out then both returned their Pokémon to their pokéballs. At this point the other femmes came over.

"Looks like Knock Out has two femmes that want to lick his body…" Airachnid said with a snigger and a wink.

"Hey! What happens behind closed doors between me and my girlfriend is none of your business!"

"It's our business when you and your girlfriend are having a make-out session backstage in the arena!" Misty heard what Knock Out said and couldn't help adding that in.

"Really?" The other femmes that didn't see all asked. _Thank you Misty for dropping both of us right in it!_ Knock Out thought angrily.

"Oh they were..." Dawn was trying to forget about that tournament; as much as she liked Ash, she didn't like him in that way.

"Couldn't keep their hands or their lips off each other!" Airachnid added in. Knock Out and Firestar were now fighting the urge to turn pale blue.

"If that's the case then…" Firestar now looked nervous; she was certain Elita would tell her off!

"You two _need_ to be photographed together; since you're apart so much!" Moonracer suggested.

"That's your punishment?" Knock Out looked confused; that didn't sound bad.

"You don't know the half of it…" Firestar seemed to have an idea what would happen here; and Knock Out wasn't going to like it!

"You remember that pose you told me to go in earlier, if I won?" Airachnid asked Firestar.

"Yes… Why?" Firestar turned pale blue now; she had a feeling that might happen.

"You two should pose like that!" Knock Out then remembered what Airachnid was getting at and his cheeks turned blue too.

"While… Everyone's watching?" He sounded nervous.

"That's what you wanted me to do!" Airachnid was right and Knock Out reluctantly sat down with his legs out in front of him. Firestar then straddled his hips which made the other femme's eyes widen. Firestar and Knock Out then gave each other a look that said 'let's pretend we're alone…' before touching their lips together. They nervously let their tongues slide into the other's mouth before using it to try and stroke as much as they could. The others seemed shocked; they didn't seem interested in doing that sort of thing but they obviously were! One of the femme's eyes flickered for a second and then she decided to turn away; she was happy that she lost in a way; she didn't want to do that sort of thing in front of the crowd gathered around! Knock Out and Firestar pulled their heads back, away from each other, and the crowd wolf-whistled at them. Both of them now had a blush spreading across their faces.

"Aw… Those two are so cute!" Chromia couldn't resist taunting them.

"There are two other couples that haven't been photographed together yet either!" Moonracer pointed out. Lockdown and Kickback now tried to hide; they didn't want to go through that!

"Get them!" Chromia shouted. Both of them then ran off so the femmes chased after them.

"Can I go with them Knocks? I want to see this!" Firestar sounded excited.

"Make sure you take the one of Black Airachnia and Lockdown; I wasn't even aware they were a couple!" Knock Out said before letting her go.

"Are going to Chaar next?" Knock Out asked Ash. Firestar then looked around.

"Yes actually, why; do you want to come with us?" Misty answered rudely.

"Misty, you don't need to be so rude!" May told her off again.

"I have a friend there I'd like to visit…"

"This is the last time I'll be seeing you for a while isn't it?" Firestar asked him.

"I'll be going back to Polyhex afterwards though…"

"Then I'll go there to wait for you after this." Firestar said before gently kissing his forehead.

"See you around Knocks." She then ran off after the other femmes.

"Aw… I agree with Chromia; you two are so cute!" May told Knock Out.

"I'd better not hear that all the way there; or I'm going to run back here!" Knock Out said, only slightly annoyed with May.

"Trust me; I think I've heard enough about it already!" Brock told the group and they all laughed.

"Come on you guys! Let's get going!" Ash impatiently walked on ahead out the exit towards Chaar and the others followed him.

**AN: Knock Out's Camerupt idea came from Ash's Charizard; when Charmander evolved into Charmeleon and then Charizard he stopped being obedient. Knock Out's Camerupt is just the reverse! On a separate note, the Sharkticon's Solosis was based on my own.**


	13. Rockets and Hammers

"So, who's your friend that you had to go and visit?" May asked Knock Out.

"I'd say more like a big brother actually. It was him who helped me catch Numel." Knock Out paused for a little while; they would find out about him soon enough.

"We'd best be careful; those Quintesson Grunts took off this way, who knows how many more of them there are around here…" Brock sounded nervous; they might work in large groups like Team Galactic did. All of them continued to wander along and they all relaxed when nothing jumped out at them. However shortly after they all started to think they were safe, they all stumbled into a pit trap.

"Ouch…" Misty said; she'd fallen in last, and was on top.

"If you all wouldn't mind… I'm at the bottom and you aren't exactly light!" Knock Out's voice came from the bottom of the pile. Misty climbed off and decided to have a quick look; everyone looked ok, but Knock Out and Brock were squirming a little; they fell in first. The others quickly climbed off the two at the bottom, and those two stood up. Knock Out dusted himself off before Ash spoke.

"Do Quintessons normally dig holes for people to fall in?"

"No. They would attack you right out; not let you fall in a hole."

"Then who might have done this?" Max asked.

"I wouldn't put it past Soundwave's little miscreants. Or maybe Spike's son and his friends dug the trap." Knock Out seemed to have some ideas but then a voice spoke from beyond the edge of the pit.

"Listen, is that a voice I hear?" The voice was female and Ash, Brock and Dawn realised who it was straight away but chose not to say anything.

"It speaks to me, loud and clear!" A male voice answered the female one. This clued in May, Max and Misty to who it was; though this motto was new.

"On the wind!" The female voice spoke.

"Past the stars!" The male voice again spoke after her.

"In your ear!" A different male voice spoke; Knock Out looked confused; two boys and a girl were behind this, but they didn't sound like Sari, Wheelie and Daniel.

"Bringing chaos at a break-neck pace!" The female voice spoke.

"Dashing all hope and putting fear in its place!" The male voice spoke.

"A rose by any other name is just as sweet!" The female voice spoke.

"When everything's worse, our work is complete!" The male voice spoke.

"Jessie!" The girl said.

"And it's James!" The boy said.

"Meowth, now dat's a name!" The third voice said. Knock Out looked shocked. _A talking Pokémon? How? I wish mine could talk…_

"Putting the do-gooders in their place!" Jessie said.

"Team Rocket…" James said before pausing.

"In your face!" Jessie, James and Meowth all shouted together.

"Let us out of this pit trap right now!" Misty shouted angrily up at Team Rocket.

"Not a chance twerp! Let's just see who we caught…" Jessie paused before looking into the pit trap.

"It's a pit full of twerps! And…" Jessie trailed off when she spotted Knock Out.

"A very handsome robot!" James and Meowth looked at her incredulously. Knock Out looked slightly disgusted.

"He was travelling with the twerps. Doesn't that make him one?" Meowth asked her; still unable to believe she thought that pile of metal was good looking.

"No. He can't be a twerp! He's gorgeous!" Knock Out then decided to answer Jessie.

"These are my friends. Why are they twerps?" Knock Out asked and Jessie squealed; his voice sounded hot too!

"First a Weavile, now a robot…" James whispered to Meowth. Jessie didn't answer Knock Out and continued to chatter on at him.

"Put your hand up and I'll help you out; you're a hunk!" Knock Out then decided to be cruel.

"So my girlfriend has told me." Jessie froze when he said 'girlfriend'.

"Girl-friend?" She sounded completely stunned.

"Yes. And she thinks I'm gorgeous too." Jessie shook herself and then regained her composure.

"Right then, we'll just do this…" Jessie pushed a button on a controller beside her and a bunch of metallic arms reached in and grabbed all of the pokéballs it could get hold of, along with Pikachu and Piplup. _Pika! Pip!_ Both of them cried out while reaching for their trainers. Ash and Dawn reached out to try and grab them but the arms quickly yanked the Pokémon out of reach.

"No, Pikachu!"

"Piplup!" Ash and Dawn both cried out. Knock Out and the others started checking and they found out.

"Hey! You give my Pokémon back!" Knock Out shouted at Jessie; the arms had grabbed all his pokéballs, along with all but May's Skitty and Misty's Psyduck.

"No. You're a mean robot, breaking a girl's heart like that! If I can't have you; I'll have your Pokémon instead!" Jessie shouted back. While this was going on the arms had put the pokéballs, Pikachu and Piplup inside a large capsule. Just after putting them in, one of the arms put a lid on the capsule, to keep the Pokémon in. Just after the lid was on Pikachu had an idea.

"_Can I use Thunderbolt, Piplup?" _Pikachu asked Piplup.

"_It might hurt but if it will get us out of here, I don't mind! In fact I'll help you with Bubblebeam!"_ Piplup answered and both of them used their attacks. Piplup's bubbles just bounced off the side and Pikachu's Thunderbolt was just absorbed.

"Did you really think that a Thunderbolt would get you out of an electricity-proof capsule?" Meowth asked Pikachu mockingly. Pikachu growled angrily in response. And then wondered if he could work out which of those pokéballs contained Dawn's Mamoswine, Ash's Torterra or Knock Out's Camerupt; since the size of them might be able to break the capsule open; it wasn't as big as Camerupt or Torterra so Mamoswine was definitely too big!

"Now we'll just be taking these back to our boss." James answered smugly. Jessie looked back in the pit to see if she could convince a certain robot to join her…

"Are you sure you don't want to join me up here Mister Robot?"

"Knock Out; you might have to act like you're attracted to Jessie, so we can get out of here…" Brock suggested. Knock Out looked disgusted at the suggestion but then saw that Brock was right.

"It looks like the only way…" Knock Out was just about to speak to Jessie when the group in the pit all heard another voice.

"What are you doing beside that hole?" Knock Out recognised the voice immediately.

"I'm err… Trying to help my Pokémon who fell in there…" Jessie said as convincingly as she could.

"Really? Then what are these two doing in a cage?" The mech pointed at Pikachu and Piplup who were inside the capsule, both crying for help.

"It's not a cage! Cages have bars you big dumb robot!" Meowth shouted rudely at the mech.

"I might be big but I'm not stupid. Are all of those Pokémon yours?" The mech sounded sceptical.

"Err… Yes they are! We… look after them for others, I mean…" Jessie sounded worried. Knock Out chose this point to speak up.

"Breakdown! Don't listen to them! They trapped us all in this pit then stole all our Pokémon!" Knock Out shouted.

"You're Pokémon thieves?" Breakdown shouted angrily at Team Rocket.

"Err… No!" James sounded nervous.

"Dat robot is a liar!" Meowth also quickly answered.

"First off, we are Cybertronians or Transformers, not robots! Second, that mech is my best friend, so I doubt he's lying; which means I'm going to release those trapped Pokémon!"

"No you don't! Go Seviper!" Jessie called out her black and purple Fang-Snake.

"Go Carnivine!" Carnivine jumped out of his pokéball but quickly swung around and bit down on James' head.

"Hey! Go bite that Cybertronian there!" James flung Carnivine off him.

"I'm a mech! Cybertronian to me is like it to you." Breakdown sounded annoyed.

"And since you decided to challenge me… Go Rhydon and Excadrill!" Ash hadn't heard of Excadrill so he searched for it on his Unova Pokédex.

"_Excadrill, the Subterrene Pokémon. More than 300 feet below the surface, they build mazelike nests. Their activity can be destructive to subway tunnels._" At the same time James read this on his cards.

"Carnivine use Bullet Seed!" Carnivine opened his mouth a spat a stream of hard seeds at Rhydon and Excadrill. They both didn't seem hurt by them at all.

"Excadrill use Metal Claw on Seviper!" Excadrill spread his arms and ran for Seviper; claws appearing to sharpen.

"Seviper, stop him with Poison Tail!" Seviper's tail glowed purple and she swung it around; ready to strike Excadrill. Seviper struck Excadrill with her tail, but not only did it not seem to hurt Excadrill, it didn't stop him either. Excadrill ran his sharp claws across Seviper's exposed stomach; knocking her flying back. Seviper managed to struggle back up but she seemed hurt.

"Hammer time! Rhydon use Hammer Arm!" Rhydon swung his fist around in anticipation when Breakdown said 'Hammer time!' Rhydon then darted forward; also at Seviper, his hands now clenched in fists. Rhydon pounded them both down on Seviper's tail before she could move out of the way. Seviper winced in pain and then her head dropped to the ground. She had swirls in her eyes.

"No! Seviper!" Jessie looked nervous; they took down Seviper in two hits.

"Seviper return." Seviper disappeared inside her pokéball.

"Go Yanmega!" A Pokémon that looked like a large green dragonfly appeared.

"Yanmega use Sonicboom!" Yanmega flapped her wings and sent sound waves towards her opponents. The sound waves knocked 20 health points off both Rhydon and Excadrill.

"Alright if you want to use a flying Pokémon…" Breakdown paused; he was amused at how stupid this femme was.

"Excadrill use Rock Slide!" Rocks appeared above Yanmega and then came crashing down; knocking her to the ground. Yanmega flapped her wings and weakly got herself back into the air.

"No! Come on Yanmega!" Jessie hoped that her Pokémon could take some more hits.

"Rhydon use Stone Edge!" Sharp rocks appeared on the ground below Yanmega. Rhydon raised his arms, causing the rocks to go flying upwards, cutting into her sides and making her cry out. Yanmega just managed to stay in the air after those two rock type attacks hit her.

"Good girl…" Jessie said, hoping to encourage Yanmega.

"Carnivine use Bite!" Carnivine flew through the air and bit down hard onto Rhydon's tail. Rhydon started to wag his tail; to try and shake Carnivine off him.

"Yanmega use Silver Wind!" Yanmega flapped her wings; causing silvery scales to float into the air. These scales were then propelled by the gust the wings were creating, straight into Rhydon and Excadrill. Both of them raised an arm up to block the blowing wind; but they still took damage from the attack; the scales now feeling more like tiny shards of glass.

"Excadrill use Dig!" Excadrill put both of his claws together and then jumped and began to spin his body like a drill. He then pointed downwards and drilled into the ground.

"Use Stone Edge again, Rhydon!" More sharp edged rocks appeared under Yanmega and they too were made to fly up into Yanmega by a raise of Rhydon's hands. Yanmega fell to the ground after the hits this time; she had swirls in her eyes.

"Yanmega!" Jessie almost ran out to see how badly Yanmega was hurt but a glare from Rhydon stopped her in her tracks.

"Oh… Yanmega return. Go Wobbuffet!" A blue round Pokémon with a black tail appeared. Wobbuffet looked at his opponent and quickly ran behind Jessie; that Rhydon was scary!

"Come on Wobbuffet! Fight that mean robot!" Jessie said, not loudly enough for Breakdown to hear. _Wuhba! Wuhba!_ Wobbuffet said while shaking his head at Jessie.

"Oh… You're terrified of that Rhydon too… James, teach that meanie a lesson!" Jessie said with complete faith in him. _I only hope I can…_ James thought to himself.

"Right then Carnivine, use Bite again!" Carnivine had flown back to James after a good nibble on Rhydon's tail. But he now happily flew back and bit down on the tail again; maybe he thought it tasted good!

"Rhydon use Hammer Arm! It's hammer time!" Rhydon swung both of his fists around and then slammed them down on Carnivine's head, knocking him off.

"Oh no! Carnivine!" James looked worried.

"Now Excadrill!" Excadrill dug out of the ground under Carnivine and knocked him up into the air. When Carnivine hit the ground, he had swirls in his eyes.

"Carnivine return…" James sounded worried he only had one Pokémon left.

"Go Mime Jr!" _Mime?_ Mime Jr asked when he appeared; he wasn't sure how to battle these opponents; they were much bigger than him. Mime Jr looked as nervous as his master.

"Mime Jr, use Teeter Dance!" Mime Jr started to wave his arms out from his sides, a blue energy surrounding him. Breakdown had an idea; his Pokémon weren't falling for it so he whispered to them.

"Copy that little Pokémon; I'll even join in if it makes you feel better!" Breakdown thought his Pokémon wouldn't want to look stupid and they looked around at him with a look that said 'Do we have to?' But when they saw him start to wave his arms in time with Mime Jr, they quickly copied their master.

"Oh look! Even that robot is dancing along with Mime Jr! His dancing must be infectious!" Mime Jr continued to dance along, not realising this was all part of Breakdown's plan.

"Excadrill you make your way over next to Rhydon." Excadrill nodded and slowly sidestepped next to Rhydon, neither James nor Mime Jr noticed.

"Now Rhydon use Earthquake!" Excadrill quickly jumped on Rhydon's back and clung on; to make sure that he didn't get hit. Rhydon and Breakdown both stopped waving their arms and Rhydon began to pound his feet on the ground; making tremors. James noticed that none of the other Pokémon were dancing too late; Mime Jr got hit by Rhydon's Earthquake and was knocked out by the damage.

"No, Mimey!" James ran in and picked up Mime Jr.

"You're really mean; beating up a little baby Pokémon like that!" James sounded furious.

"Then what does that make you for stealing that baby Piplup and goodness knows how many other baby Pokémon?" Breakdown asked smugly. James didn't answer. Breakdown walked over to the capsule containing Pikachu, Piplup and all the pokéballs.

"Don't worry little ones; I'll get you out of there!" Breakdown then produced a hammer and knocked the lid off the capsule. He then put one of his hands in and lifted out Pikachu and Piplup.

"There you go! Now then, how about we get rid of these crooks?" Breakdown hoped these two knew the moves he told them to do.

"Piplup use Bubblebeam!" Piplup looked confusedly at the blue mech commanding him.

"You don't know Bubblebeam?" Breakdown asked Piplup. _Piplup-Pip-Pip-Piplup!_ Piplup answered him. Breakdown paused for a moment then realised what Piplup might be saying.

"I know I'm not your master but… could you help me?" Piplup then nodded and spat a stream of bubbles at Jessie, Wobbuffet, James, Mime Jr and Meowth.

"Alright, Pikachu use Thunderbolt!" Pikachu shot a bolt of electricity at the now soaked Team Rocket. This caused an explosion that made them scream as they went flying into the air.

"Why'd we bother challenging dat blue robot?" Meowth asked the others.

"I don't know Meowth; maybe because you annoyed him!" Jessie was trying to blame someone else.

"It really doesn't matter you know…" James said.

"Because we're blasting off again!" The all shouted as they flew into the distance.

"Right now let's just see who is down here…" Breakdown walked over to the hole, followed by Rhydon, Pikachu, Piplup and Excadrill.

"Pikachu!"

"Piplup!" Ash and Dawn both called to their Pokémon.

"I'll give you both credit; you've trained them both really well." Breakdown looked over the edge of the hole and Pikachu and Piplup happily told their masters they were ok. _Pika-Pika-Pikachu!_ _Piplup-Pip!_ Both of them looked slightly scared but they seemed happy to be out of the capsule.

"Right, Breakdown can you get us out of here?"

"Sure thing Knocks." Breakdown then turned to his Excadrill.

"Dig them a tunnel." Excadrill then started to carefully dig a tunnel towards the hole.

"I'd move away from that wall if I were you; Excadrill's claws are sharp!" Breakdown pointed at the wall beneath his feet. The group moved back. Excadrill then came through the wall. _Excadrill!_ Excadrill seemed to be asking them to follow him so they followed him back along the tunnel to the surface.

"We'd better get the Constructicons along to fill that hole in!" Breakdown joked; he knew what happened between Knock Out and Hook too.

"Not while I'm here! But anyway thank you for rescuing us…" Knock Out said quickly.

"You're just happy you didn't have to pretend to be attracted to Jessie!" Misty said.

"Was that the pink haired femme?" Breakdown asked.

"Yes it was…" Brock sounded annoyed with Team Rocket still. He'd walked over to sort out the pokéballs.

"And she thought he was a hunk!" May said, trying not to giggle.

"That another femme you've broke the spark of?" Breakdown asked teasingly.

"I do not go around breaking femmes sparks; despite what the rumours might tell you."

"I know you don't; I'm just kidding." Breakdown then walked over beside Knock Out and picked him up, cuddling him.

"Hey! Put me down!" Knock Out said; Ash and the others were all sniggering. Breakdown quickly complied.

"Anyway, how's that Numel I helped you catch doing?"

"You can battle her later if you want."

"Actually you can battle now." Brock and Rhydon had finished sorting out the pokéballs.

"Can I referee?" Dawn asked.

"Sure. I know both of us have more than one Pokémon Knocks, but I don't want to beat up _all_ of yours."

"Why do you sound so sure you're going to win?" Knock Out gave Breakdown a cross look.

"Fine, you two ready?" Dawn asked them.

"I'll battle with Rhydon. Excadrill return." Breakdown returned Excadrill to his pokéball while Knock Out collected his pokéballs up.

"Right then. Do you just want to battle Numel?" Dawn asked Breakdown.

"Yes."

"Ok. This battle will be one on one and the battle will be over when one mech's Pokémon knocks out the other." Dawn silently hoped that she got her terms right.

"Right. Let the battle begin!" Dawn spoke and Knock Out looked smugly at Breakdown.

"Go Camerupt!"

"I said Numel…" Breakdown then stopped; Camerupt was the evolved form of Numel. _So he finally evolved her, took him long enough… You'd think she didn't want him to train her or something…_ Camerupt ran back to Knock Out and gave him a lick.

"Hello Camerupt… Yes I know you like me… Please stop licking me…" Knock Out paused because Camerupt kept licking him. She then realised he must have summoned her for battle and ran back onto the makeshift arena.

"Rhydon use Horn Drill!" Rhydon ran forwards, his horn spinning around.

"Camerupt, dodge it!" Camerupt ran out of the way of the charging Rhydon; who seemed annoyed that he'd missed.

"Now use Earth Power!" Camerupt closed her eyes and cracks in the ground appeared below where Rhydon was standing. When Camerupt opened her eyes, hot magma shot up through the cracks in the ground; covering Rhydon. _Rhy!_ Rhydon cried out in pain.

"Rhydon use Earthquake!" Rhydon stamped his feet and the ground began to tremble. Camerupt trembled a little too; she was unsure of whether or not she could beat Rhydon. Eventually Camerupt fell down from the shaking.

"Come on Camerupt!" Camerupt heard her master and stood up as quickly as she could; but that Earthquake hurt.

"Camerupt use Earthquake!" Camerupt stomped her front legs on the ground causing more tremors. Rhydon fell down after they hit this time.

"Come on Rhydon! You can do it!" Rhydon pushed himself back up as quickly as he could, but he still wobbled a little; he hadn't been healed after the last battle; so he still had those injuries.

"Rhydon use Stone Edge!" Sharp rocks spun around Camerupt. She watched them nervously; she knew this would hurt! The rocks slowly got closer and closer until they collided with her. _Cam-Camerupt!_ She cried out; these rocks did hurt!

"Camerupt, retaliate with Rock Slide!" Camerupt closed her eyes and rocks appeared above Rhydon.

"Rhydon, dodge it then use Horn Drill!" Rhydon ran forward spinning his horn like a drill. Camerupt opened her eyes and the rocks fell down but there was no Pokémon underneath where they were. _Cam?_ She looked confused; how did Rhydon dodge that? She then felt a sharp pain in her side, it felt sort of like a spinning spike. She turned her head around and saw Rhydon's horn spinning into her side. Camerupt collapsed to the ground with swirls in her eyes.

"No!" Knock Out sounded shocked; he thought Camerupt was stronger than that.

"Camerupt is unable to battle. The winner is Breakdown!" Dawn said a little over excitedly.

"Hey. How did that move beat Camerupt so quickly?" Knock Out asked Breakdown.

"I did tell you what all the one-hit KO moves were didn't I?"

"Guillotine, Fissure, Sheer Cold and… Horn Drill…" Knock Out then realised why it was so effective.

"I just wish someone could temporarily trade me a Pokémon for Rhydon…"

"Why is that?" Knock Out looked confused; Rhydon was one of Breakdown's strongest Pokémon; why would he willingly give it to someone else?

"Rhydon is holding a Protector and he will evolve into a Rhyperior if I trade him."

"Why didn't you say so? I'll let you borrow one of mine long enough for Rhydon to evolve!" Knock Out answered.

"Really? You mean it?" Breakdown seemed to think Knock Out was just saying that for some reason.

"Sure! I mean, if I had a Pokémon that evolved like that, I would want it to evolve, and you'd help me." Knock Out was busy explaining this to Breakdown while both of them returned their Pokémon to their pokéballs.

"Come on! I want to get to Chaar to challenge the Gym Leader!" Ash said impatiently.

"Alright; I'll come with you to watch." Breakdown followed along with them and the group headed towards Chaar.

**AN: Jessie thinking Knock Out was hot was a random idea I thought would be funny… And she did do that kind of thing with a Weavile… Knock Out and Breakdown are best friends in this fic and when Breakdown cuddled Knock Out it was like what Bulkhead did to Wheeljack… On a separate note Breakdown's Excadrill is based on my own. His Rhydon is based on my Rhyperior.**


	14. When Battles and Friendship Collide!

After a bit more walking, the group found themselves at Chaar.

"So this is where you call home, huh Breakdown?" Ash asked.

"Yeah… and that's the gym over there!" Breakdown pointed at a building that looked rather rugged.

"It looks kinda… run down." Max sounded worried; maybe this gym hadn't been used in a while.

"Don't worry; I'm sure someone will be in there…" Knock Out said sharing a look with Breakdown. Ash didn't think anything of it and walked off towards the gym; but Brock and Dawn became a little suspicious; maybe Breakdown _was_ the gym leader. Ash didn't seem worried about challenging this gym; even if it did look run-down.

"Come on. Before the gym leader decides to go for a walk or something…" Ash then thought; he could see if anyone came out of the gym.

"Alright Ash, we're coming…" Dawn and Brock walked a little faster to keep up with the rest of the group. It didn't take long for the group to reach the gym's door.

"Can you hear arguing coming from inside?" May asked and the rest of the group listened at the door.

"It's your turn to challenge the next one, Dead End!" A voice said, sounding excited.

"What's the point? They'll win and we'll have to give them a gym badge." Someone else; the group assumed he was Dead End, answered.

"Why are you so down on yourself? You can battle really well; we've seen you!" The excited voice answered again. The group sounded surprised to hear that there wasn't just them two

"Yes but, you're a much better battler than me…" Dead End answered again.

"Stop wallowing in your sorrows! It puts everyone else down too!" This time a louder, more angry sounding voice told off Dead End.

"We'd better go and see what's going on in there!" Misty opened the door and walked through. The others couldn't believe she'd do that but followed her; if only to try and keep her out of trouble!

"You two always fight about this! Why don't you stick to the plans we laid out in the first place?" A yellow and white mech asked Dead End, the group could tell he wasn't one of the other two who spoke.

"Settle it with a fight if you must; but do not test my patience!" A tall grey mech shouted at both of them.

"Alright then! Drag Strip, will you referee?" A grey and red mech shouted happily.

"I will, if Dead End wants to fight…" Drag Strip answered; he was the yellow and white mech.

"I'll battle then; but you'll win…" Dead End sounded resided to his fate and walk off towards one end of the arena. When the grey and red mech walked to other he stopped and spoke to the group at the door.

"You can all go and watch if you want." He told the group. Knock Out and Breakdown quickly walked off towards the stands before the mech noticed them and the others followed.

"Which one of them is the gym leader?" Ash asked.

"They all take turns, but Dead End doesn't like battling." Knock Out answered, as if from experience.

"Who will I have to fight?"

"Probably Motormaster; when he hears you're the one that Perceptor sent, he'll challenge you!" Breakdown seemed to think this would be interesting to watch.

"Which one is he?" Max asked him.

"And what are the others called?" May asked as well.

"Motormaster is the tall grey mech who is quite irritable." Breakdown pointed at him.

"Drag Strip is the yellow and white mech who's a bit egotistical." Breakdown pointed at the mech who was going to referee.

"Wildrider is the slightly crazy grey and red mech." Breakdown pointed at him next.

"And Dead End is the pessimistic red, white and grey mech." Breakdown finished telling them.

"This match will be one-on-one and will be over when one Stunticon's Pokémon beats the other." Drag Strip announced.

"Choose your Pokémon!"

"I think I'll use you! Go Linoone!" Wildrider called out a long ferret like Pokémon, who jumped up and down happily. _He's as crazy as his master!_ Ash thought.

"Go Drifloon." Dead End called out a small Pokémon that looked like a balloon with eyes. He seemed a bit more confident that he could win this than his master did.

"This fight will be between Drifloon and Linoone. Let the fight begin!" Breakdown fought the urge to tell them it was called a battle, not a fight; that would tell them he was there!

"Linoone use Rock Smash!" Linoone shattered some rocks that floated up next to him and then threw them at Drifloon; but Drifloon didn't seem hurt by the attack at all.

"Drifloon use Shadow Ball!" Drifloon lifted both of his string like arms up and produced a ball made of darkness, then threw it at Linoone. Linoone took a direct hit but he didn't look hurt by the attack. _Huh? Why didn't that work?_ Both Dead End and Wildrider thought at the same time. Dead End then thought of something and decided it might just work.

"Drifloon use Constrict!" Drifloon's arms appeared to grow in length and he then floated towards Linoone.

"Surf's up! Linoone use Surf!" Wildrider sniggered. Water appeared just behind where Linoone was standing and then Linoone jumped. A wave started to form underneath Linoone and when it reached a certain height, Linoone landed on top of it. The wave then began to wash across the battlefield towards Drifloon. Drifloon got hit by the wave and was knocked onto the ground by the force of it. The wave subsided when Drifloon got hit and the remaining water slid across the ground; just touching Drifloon's head where he lay on the ground. Drifloon floated back up into the air as quickly as he could but he was badly hurt; that Surf hit hard!

"Drifloon, try using Payback." _Even though I doubt this work…_ Dead End thought to himself. One of Drifloon's hands at the end of the string clenched to form a fist. He then floated quickly towards Linoone; he thought he might get hit again!

"Linoone, Surf's up again!" Wildrider giggled again; this was fun! Linoone jumped up above another wave that appeared from nowhere. The wave again crashed into Drifloon. Drifloon again landed just in front of his master. But this time the wave washed over Drifloon's head and he didn't float back up. He had swirls where his eyes should be.

"Drifloon is unable to continue. The winner is Wildrider!" Drag Strip sounded slightly annoyed; Dead End would probably say 'I told you so'. Dead End walked silently over to Drifloon and picked him up. He then walked over to the side lines carrying Drifloon.

"I wouldn't worry about Dead End; he'll back to the mech we all know and love soon enough!" Breakdown whispered; he was still trying to stay hidden!

"Why don't you challenge the gym now Ash?" Knock Out asked.

"That sounds like a good idea." Ash paused, about to shout.

"No! Go down there!" Breakdown pointed at the arena and Ash looked confusedly at him.

"You want them to see you right?" Knock Out was trying to convincing.

"Alright then…" Ash walked down to the arena then shouted at the Stunticons.

"Hey! I am the one Perceptor asked for help in getting the league going! Who among you will challenge me?" All of the Stunticons looked at Ash.

"I think he means you Motormaster!" Wildrider sounded amused about something.

"Surely it is you who will challenge me! The Gym Leader!" Motormaster shouted back.

"Fine then. I would like to challenge the Chaar gym." Ash now spoke normally.

"I accept your challenge! Wildrider you can referee!" Motormaster stood on the gym leader's platform and waited for Ash to go the challenger's.

"This will be a one vs. one fight and the winner will be the one who's Pokémon is still standing at the end!" Wildrider shouted happily. _Line-Linoone!_ Linoone stood next to him and joined in speaking.

"Why are you letting Motormaster battle Ash as the gym leader when that's you?" Brock whispered quietly to Breakdown.

"Because I wanted to see the look on Ash's and everyone else's face when they find out!" Breakdown said amusedly.

"Stoutland, let's go!" A large dog appeared on the battlefield. Ash pulled out his Pokédex to look it up.

"_Stoutland, the Big-hearted Pokémon. This extremely wise Pokémon excels at rescuing people stranded at sea or in the mountains._"

"Ok then! Gliscor, I choose you!" _Gli!_ Gliscor said as he jumped into battle.

"Let the fight begin!" Wildrider called out, moving his hands out to the sides.

"Right, Stoutland start off with Bite!" Stoutland charged forward and aimed his head for Gliscor's tail. Stoutland bit down on the tail, just above the stinger.

"Gliscor fly up and use X-Scissor!" Gliscor wriggled his tail and Stoutland let go. Then Gliscor took to the skies and out of Stoutland's reach. Gliscor crossed his arms over his chest and then flew downwards, an X appearing over his claws. These claws then slammed into Stoutland sending him backwards a bit.

"Stoutland stand tough! Use Strength!" Stoutland stood up tall and then ran forward. Stoutland slammed his body into Gliscor with the force to move mountains. Gliscor flew backwards and landed on his tummy, just in front of his master.

"Come on Gliscor! Get up and use Aerial Ace!" Gliscor heard his master and jumped up into the air, gaining altitude as quickly as he could; that Stoutland was really strong! He then swooped down with his wings spread wide. The collision knocked Stoutland back a little bit but he didn't seem too badly hurt.

"Stoutland, Crunch up that Scorpion!" Stoutland menacingly growled at his opponent before grabbing Gliscor's tail between his teeth. Gliscor cried out; that hurt! Gliscor shook his tail and managed to get Stoutland to let go before it started to become worse.

"Gliscor use Steel Wing!" Gliscor sprang back up into the air and spread his wings again. This time, the wings became cloaked in metal before they slammed into Stoutland. Stoutland wobbled from the hit.

"Stoutland, stay strong! Use Reversal!" Blue light started to swirl around Stoutland and he sounded slightly happy; this would hurt that mean Gliscor! The blue light surrounded Stoutland then charged for Gliscor.

"Quick Gliscor up!" Gliscor sprang up into the air just before Stoutland hit him.

"Now use Giga Impact!" A purple light surrounded Gliscor and he spiralled downwards straight into Stoutland. Stoutland seemed to be able to continue battling; even after Giga Impact! But shortly after he clambered back to his feet, he fell down again, with swirls in his eyes.

"Stoutland is unable to continue! The winner is Ash!" Wildrider happily told everyone. _Linoone!_ Linoone spoke too.

"Guess that means we need to…" Motormaster paused; he'd noticed something.

"The gym leader is back now; you'll have to challenge him to earn the Chaar gym badge." Motormaster told them.

"What? Who?" Ash sounded shocked. _Motormaster looks the strongest, but maybe Dead End is the gym leader? _Ash thought about it.

"I guess I'd better show you." Ash turned to the stands; Breakdown spoke!

"Breakdown?! You're the… gym leader?!" Ash sounded shocked. Misty, May and Max looked as shocked as Ash did.

"You should all see the looks on your faces!" Dawn had worked it out and was trying not to laugh.

"Yes Ash, I'm the gym leader! The other Stunticons are my helpers. And I can't believe that more of you didn't work it out!" Breakdown was also trying not to laugh at the expressions of the group.

"Can I challenge you?" Ash had recovered from the shock.

"I don't see why not… Motormaster do you want to referee?"

"Sure." Motormaster answered.

"This fight will be three on three…"

"Motormaster, they aren't called fights, they're called battles!" Breakdown corrected him.

"Err… Right. This will be a three on three battle and it will be over when all three of your opponent's Pokémon can no longer battle. Choose your Pokémon!" Motormaster told the watchers.

"Go Diglett!" A small mole like Pokémon appeared.

"Go Buizel!" Ash called out his sea weasel who motioned at Diglett as if to say 'come and get me!'

"Round 1. Diglett vs. Buizel! Let the battle begin!" Motormaster called.

"Diglett use Magnitude!" The rocks around Diglett began to vibrate and these vibrations caused tremors to shoot towards Buizel.

"Buizel use Aqua Jet!" Buizel sprung into the air, surrounded by water, and dodged the tremors. They wouldn't have hurt him much anyway; they were only Magnitude 4. The water cloaked Buizel continued to fly toward his opponent, until he sent Diglett sliding back a bit from the force of the hit.

"Diglett try a different technique. Use Astonish!" Diglett slid forward across the ground, shouting loudly at his opponent. He then slammed into Buizel head first; knocking him back a few paces. _Bui!_ Buizel called out angrily; no little mole was going to do that to him!

"You ok Buizel?" Buizel nodded at Ash.

"Use Water Pulse!" A ball of water appeared in Buizel's hands. Buizel glared evilly at Diglett, whose head sank a little lower into the hole he sat in. The ball of water was soon pushed out of Buizel's hands and was sent flying across the arena. Diglett shut his eyes but it was too late. The Water Pulse collided with him and knocked him backwards; just in front of his master's feet. Diglett slumped forward; he'd collapsed from the damage he'd taken.

"Oh… Diglett return…" Breakdown returned Diglett to his pokéball.

"I guess you just weren't ready for this yet…" He quietly said to the pokéball; as if Diglett could hear him on the inside of the ball.

"Come on! That's it Ash!" The other Stunticons at the front of the stands looked back to see a girl with blue hair jumping around with pink fluffy things in her hands. They seemed more surprised by a Piplup, Buneary and Pachirisu, dressed similarly to the girl, who were also waving around pink fluffy things.

"I wonder what she's doing." Wildrider looked confused.

Meanwhile, further back in the stands, Dawn was cheering on Ash.

"Why are you so excited?" Knock Out asked her.

"I'm not. I'm just cheering on my friend!" She replied. _Piplup! Pachi-Pa! Buneary!_ Dawn's Pokémon cried; it sounded like they were cheering on Buizel.

"I don't see the point in it. You won't see me doing something like that!"

"Cheering on your friends is way to boost their morale." May explained.

"And Dawn has been doing that for Ash in all of his gym battles in the Sinnoh region." Brock explained.

"I think you'd better watch; look!" Max pointed at the arena; Breakdown was getting ready to call out his next Pokémon.

"Go Sandslash!" A mouse like Pokémon with spines appeared. _Sand-SLASH!_ He yelled. Buizel looked a little nervous; this Pokémon sounded strong and angry!

"Round 2. Sandslash vs. Buizel! Continue!" Motormaster shouted.

"Sandslash use Crush Claw!" Sandslash's long claws glinted and then he ran forward; angrily growling as he ran. Buizel shivered a little; he didn't like the look of this!

"Buizel dodge it!" Buizel heard Ash but couldn't move; he was frozen with fear! Sandslash grabbed Buizel and began to squeeze him using his claws. Buizel squeaked in pain until Sandslash put him down.

"Buizel are you ok?" Ash asked. Buizel looked around at him; still a bit nervous but feeling better.

"Alright then, use Water Gun!" Buizel spat a stream of water from his mouth at Sandslash; who shook himself after he was hit. Despite his type being bad against water, he didn't seem too badly hurt.

"Sandslash use Slash!" Sandslash raised his right paw threateningly and ran at Buizel. The claws on this paw appeared to lengthen. Buizel was ready for the attack this time.

"Buizel jump!" Buizel jumped up into the air and spun around; dodging the swipe that Sandslash made. Buizel landed on the ground looking triumphant until he was knocked flying by a sharp right paw. Sandslash had got him. Buizel flew towards the arena's edge, near Motormaster. When Buizel landed he had swirls in his eyes.

"Yes!" Motormaster looked around and saw a certain someone stood up, waving his arms in the air.

"You never told us Knock Out was going to be here…" Motormaster had hoped that _he_ wouldn't be around; he was much too noisy and, in his opinion, annoying.

"What was that you said about not cheering for your friend Knock Out?" Misty asked rudely. Knock Out sat back down; in hope he'd get away with it.

"Next time you do that, you're going to be waving these!" Dawn held out her pompoms.

"I don't think so!" Knock Out quickly answered.

"Unless you'd rather jump around with them now?" May joined in. The rest of them couldn't help sniggering at the image of Knock Out waving the pompoms about like Dawn was doing; it was too funny!

"I think I'll just sit here and watch, anyway it won't happen again!" Knock Out sat quietly back down; hoping that they'd all forget…

"Buizel return." Ash quietly said. _Who should I use next?_ Ash thought to himself; that Sandslash was really strong. _I know!_ He then had an idea.

"Would you like to battle now Pikachu?" He asked the yellow Pokémon perched quietly on his shoulder. _Pika!_ Pikachu happily shouted and jumped down in front of Ash. Buneary started jumping up and down and cheering really loudly; she wanted to make sure that Pikachu heard her! _I wonder if? No! Dawn's Buneary must like Ash's Pikachu! I did ponder why I saw those two wandering about dressed as a Buneary and a Pikachu once…_ Knock Out seemed to be deep in thought; completely oblivious to Buneary's loud cheering for Pikachu.

"Round 3. Sandslash vs. Pikachu! Continue!" Motormaster called and the Stunticons watching looked at Pikachu confusedly.

"Pikachu use Quick Attack!" Pikachu heard his master and darted forward and as quickly as he could; aiming to knock Sandslash off his feet.

"Sandslash quick! Use Sand Tomb!" Sandslash swung his arms around near the ground kicking dust up towards Pikachu. The sand began to collect around Pikachu but he just ran through it before it became entombing. Pikachu collided with Sandslash and used the force of the collision to push himself into the air. Ash saw what Pikachu was doing and then commanded him.

"Pikachu use Iron Tail!" Pikachu wrapped his tail around himself as he fell back down. Sandslash couldn't dodge because he was still dazed from the Quick Attack. The metal coated tail hit the top of Sandslash's head. Sandslash fell down from the force of the hit but he struggled back up to his feet.

"Keep going Sandslash! Use Crush Claw again!" Sandslash ran forward and readied his claws to try and grab Pikachu.

"Pikachu jump over Sandslash!" Pikachu jumped over Sandslash; just getting between the claws before they closed around him.

"Now use Iron Tail before he has a chance to dodge!" Pikachu's tail again became cloaked in metal and the tail swung around to hit Sandslash as hard as Pikachu could make it. The tail hit Sandslash's side knocking him onto his side. Sandslash didn't get up from that.

"Sandslash return…" Breakdown couldn't believe he'd let an electric type beat Sandslash. He heard loud cheering coming from the crowd. It sounded like a Pokémon so he looked to see what it was. _A Buneary?_ He looked confused. _Oh! That must be where they got the idea from! Ash's Pikachu and Dawn's Buneary!_ Breakdown then realised; Pikachu looked slightly sheepish, he must have noticed Buneary's cheering too.

"Let's finish this up! Go Excadrill!" Breakdown's Excadrill looked a little bit nervous until he spotted Pikachu. He looked a bit more confident after that.

"Round 4. Excadrill vs. Pikachu! Continue!" Motormaster called. He looked around at the stands too; even he must have Buneary's cheering.

"Excadrill use Rock Slide!" Excadrill closed his eyes and rocks appeared above Pikachu.

"Pikachu quick, get out of the way!" Ash shouted. Pikachu started to run towards Excadrill but before he could get out from under the rocks they fell down on top of him. Excadrill looked over and pondered if he'd squashed the little yellow mouse. Pikachu crawled out from underneath the pile of rocks he didn't seem to be badly hurt but you couldn't really tell how much damage those rocks did. Excadrill looked slightly relieved.

"Pikachu, you can do it! Use Iron Tail!" Ash had saw what type Excadrill was when he checked his Pokédex on it; this was going to be a hard battle for Pikachu. Pikachu ran forward a little, before jumping and flipping through the air. His tail glowed and he seemed confident.

"Excadrill use Metal Claw to block!" Excadrill's claws appeared to extend. Pikachu flew forward and collided with one of Excadrill's claws. _Pika?_ Pikachu seemed shocked and was then knocked back towards Ash with Excadrill's other claw. Pikachu struggled back to his feet. _Pika…_

"Come on Pikachu! Use Quick Attack!" Pikachu darted forward as quickly as he could; he wanted to hit that Excadrill!

"Excadrill use Dig!" Just before Pikachu could hit Excadrill dug his way under the ground. _Pika?_ Pikachu looked around for his opponent.

"Pikachu be ready to jump out of the way when you hear Excadrill coming back up!" Pikachu pricked his ears up trying to listen for Excadrill. Pikachu was nervous; he couldn't hear anything sounding like something digging in the ground. Just when Pikachu thought he might just be safe, Excadrill burst from the ground right behind him. The force sent him flying into the middle of the arena. Pikachu landed with a light thump. Pikachu used his paws to push himself back to his feet but his energy levels were too low to keep him up. He fell back down with swirls in his eyes.

"Aw…" Ash walked into the arena and picked up Pikachu. Pikachu looked up at him.

"You did your best Pikachu." _Pika…_ Pikachu replied weakly. Ash put Pikachu down at his feet; so he could watch the rest of the battle.

Meanwhile in the stands Knock Out had jumped back up with once arm raised, punching the sky. He then looked around nervously at Misty, May and Dawn; he hoped they didn't see that. But Dawn held out her pompoms to him, so he realised they must have saw. He then lowered his head; resigned to his fate and reached out to take the pompoms from Dawn. Now that he held them he suddenly didn't want to cheer.

"Go on." Misty answered cruelly.

"You were warned and chose to ignore the warning." May continued.

"So now you have to cheer like I was doing for Ash." Dawn finished telling him. Knock Out reluctantly started to wave his arms back and forth. However when he raised his arms into the air he had a thought; this was fun! He began dancing more enthusiastically after that and the others couldn't help laughing at him. The sound had travelled down to the arena; so everyone looked over to the stands.

"Hey Breakdown look; you've got a cheer leader!" Wildrider giggled; this was too funny. When Knock Out heard Wildrider he stopped dancing and realised everyone was looking at him. His face turned pale blue.

"Err… Don't tell anyone else about this, will you?" Knock Out looked worried; he actually looked like he was enjoying doing that.

"You don't want this to find its way out onto the Cybertronian data net, Knock Out?" Drag Strip teased.

"No! I'd die from the humiliation!"

"Then beg for us not to!" Motormaster said smugly; he knew Knock Out would beg which would probably be just as funny! Knock Out handed the pompoms back to Dawn and then got down on his knees.

"Please don't tell anyone!" Knock Out desperately shouted; he wanted to make sure they all heard him.

"What happened in the gym, can stay in the gym." Breakdown answered and Knock Out breathed a sigh of relief.

"Speaking of gym, now that distraction is over, Torterra I choose you!" Ash sent out his green tortoise, who looked rather eager.

"Final round. Excadrill vs. Torterra! Continue!" Motormaster was trying to keep a straight face, it was a shame he couldn't tell anyone else about Knock Out's cheerleading skills.

"Torterra use Energy Ball!" A ball of green light collected and grew from inside Torterra's mouth. When Torterra felt the ball was large enough, it spat the ball across the arena.

"Excadrill use Dig to dodge it!" Excadrill dug under the ground and the ball flew over the hole he dug. Ash looked smug; he had a plan.

"Torterra use Earthquake!" Torterra stomped both of his front paws down on the ground and then the ground began to shake. Excadrill felt the tremors quite badly underground. Torterra stomped his feet more and the tremors intensified. Excadrill was then fired out of the ground by the force of the tremors. Excadrill squeaked; he was a ground type, not a flying type! Excadrill managed to land on his feet but he wobbled a bit.

"You ok Excadrill?" Excadrill looked back at his master and nodded his head.

"Alright then! Use Slash!" Excadrill lifted his paw and ran toward his opponent. The claws on his paw glowed due to the attack being readied.

"Torterra use Bite!" Torterra waited until Excadrill got close enough to hit and then bit down on Excadrill's arm. _Ex!_ Excadrill cried out in shock and pain. He swung his other arm to try and scratch Torterra's face, to make him let go; but Excadrill didn't have the strength left. Torterra gently lowered him to the ground. Motormaster looked over and saw Excadrill had swirls in his eyes.

"Excadrill is unable to battle! The winner is Ash!" Motormaster called out. He looked a bit surprised; he wasn't expecting Breakdown to lose!

"Alright!" Ash cheered. _Pika-Pika!_ Pikachu happily spoke.

"Excadrill return. You did your best." Breakdown returned Excadrill to his pokéball before speaking to Ash.

"Since you beat me, you need to be given the gym badge." Breakdown didn't sound too bothered about losing. Motormaster walked up to Ash.

"Ash, for winning at this gym, I present to you the Forge Badge." Motormaster gave Ash the gym badge.

"Yes! We just won… The Forge Badge!" Ash cheered and held up the badge. _Pi-Pikachu! Bui! Torterra!_ Ash's Pokémon cheered.

"Now that this battle is over, shall we get going?" Misty asked.

"Alright then." Ash started to head towards the door.

"I'll see you when you all return to Polyhex!" Knock Out shouted.

"What do you mean?" Max looked confusedly at him, but Knock Out didn't say any more.

"I'd recommend going to Tarn next; you can only get to it from here or Gygax; and Gygax is known for problems." Breakdown told them.

"Alright then, onwards to Tarn!" Ash said running out of the door. The rest of the group looked after him and reluctantly followed wondering where he got all that energy from…

**AN: Image of Knock Out dancing around with Dawn's **_**PINK **_**pompoms… Just too funny! And the two that were in the Pikachu and Buneary costumes will be in them when they appear later on! And back in the days of Red, Blue and Yellow battles were actually called fights. On a separate note Wildrider's Linoone, Dead End's Drifloon and Motormaster's Stoutland were based on my own.**


	15. Ready to Rock and Rumble!

"How much longer is this going to take?" Dawn whined; Ash had ran most of the way towards Tarn, and now she and most of the rest of the group wanted to stop and rest for a little while.

"I think it's not far now…" Ash said quietly.

"I hope you're right, and we haven't gotten lost in this forest." May sounded worried; she didn't want to find any more of those nasty robot things that they'd had to battle before.

"Stop right there!" A voice shouted from the clearing ahead of them.

"Yikes! I hope that is just another Cybertronian playing a joke…" Max hoped it was; and that they weren't about to find any of those Quintesson things.

"We're here on Vashik's orders to capture all of your Pokémon." Another voice spoke.

"You won't be taking any of them!" Ash shouted back.

"We'd better go into that clearing; more space to battle them, since that is bound to happen." Brock suggested. The group listened to what Brock said and walked into the clearing. They saw two Allicons stood in the clearing.

"You're the ones who took down our Sharkticon!" One of them shouted angrily.

"I thought he said it was a fraidy red mech and his girlfriend." The other Allicon said quietly.

"Never mind that! These guys were there weren't they?" The first Allicon sounded annoyed.

"Yeah but…"

"So we can get our revenge on them!" The first Allicon interrupted his partner, and then both of them turned to Ash and the others.

"Which of you are brave enough to challenge us?" The second Allicon asked them threateningly.

"I'll beat you just like I beat the Sharkticon!" Misty answered confidently.

"And I'll help you!" Brock answered.

"Fine we'll take your Pokémon _when_ we win!" The first Allicon told them, sounding completely sure of himself.

"Go Kadabra!" The second Allicon called. A cat like Pokémon, with a star on its forehead, stood on its back legs, appeared.

"Go Krokorok!" The first Allicon called out his Desert Croc Pokémon.

"Right, go Staryu!" Misty called out her golden starfish Pokémon.

"Chansey, let's go!" Brock called out a pink egg shaped Pokémon.

"Oh look! When we win we'll get a healer for our boss!" The second Allicon pointed happily at Chansey. While he was distracted Misty called out an attack.

"Staryu use Hydro Pump on Krokorok!" Staryu tilted the top point forward, so it was pointing at Krokorok and then fired a stream of water at him; before he had a chance to dodge. Krokorok looked badly hurt.

"Hey! That's your fault!" The first Allicon shouted at his partner.

"Krokorok get that starfish! Use Crunch!" Krokorok looked angrily at Staryu; he didn't like that impromptu bath! Krokorok ran forward, eagerly snapping his jaws open and shut. Staryu didn't seem nervous about the impending danger.

"Chansey use Egg Bomb!" Chansey pulled the egg from her pouch and flung it at Krokorok. The egg exploded as it made contact; sending Krokorok flying towards the side of the arena. Krokorok got back to his feet wearily and walked back towards his master. While Krokorok was doing this Kadabra was getting ready to attack.

"Kadabra use Secret Power!" Kadabra ran forward and lifted the hand not holding the spoon up, and made it into a fist. Kadabra's arm then appeared to grow spiky.

"Kadabra's using Needle Arm!" Misty shouted in surprise.

"Secret Power changes depending on where the battle is; in the forest it becomes Needle Arm." Brock explained. Kadabra slammed her fist into Staryu sending it sliding backwards a little. Staryu didn't seem too badly hurt.

"Krokorok use Assurance!" A black fist appeared in the air and flew towards Staryu; getting bigger as it did so. The fist collided with Staryu and badly hurt it. Staryu recovered quickly though.

"Staryu use Swift!" Staryu jumped and spun around; sending smaller star shaped rays flying at both of its opponents. Kadabra and Krokorok didn't do anything to dodge and so got hit by the stars. Krokorok collapsed from the damage.

"Grr… Krokorok return." The first Allicon returned Krokorok to his pokéball then pulled out his second Pokémon.

"Go Duosion!" A green Pokémon that looked like a bigger cell with arms appeared. Ash and the others assumed it was Solosis' evolved form. Ash looked it up on his Pokédex.

"_Duosion, the Mitosis Pokémon. When their brains, now divided in two, are thinking the same thoughts, these Pokémon exhibit their maximum power._"

"Kadabra use Mimic on Staryu!" Kadabra sent out a star, similar to the one on her head, towards Staryu. When the star touched Staryu, Kadabra waved the arm holding the spoon at her opponents and star shaped rays fired at them. Chansey didn't seem too badly hurt but Staryu seemed to be struggling to remain on its feet.

"Chansey use Pound!" Chansey ran forward and aimed her right paw at Kadabra. Chansey hit her opponent as hard as she could. Kadabra didn't seem too badly hurt.

"Staryu use Confusion on Kadabra!" Staryu's jewel glowed with a purple light. The purple light then surrounded Kadabra and lifted her into the air. When the light faded; Kadabra fell to the ground. She tried to get back up but she didn't have the strength. Swirls appeared in her eyes.

"Grr… Kadabra return." The second Allicon sounded annoyed about losing too.

"Go Krokorok!" Another Desert Croc appeared. _All the Sharkticons have Carvanhas, all the Allicons have Krokoroks._ Brock thought to himself before commanding Chansey.

"Chansey use Pound on Duosion!" Chansey again got one of her fists ready to hit Duosion as hard as she could. She pounded her fist into Duosion but he didn't seem to badly hurt.

"Duosion use Psyshock!" Duosion sent out an attack that looked similar Psywave at Staryu. Staryu didn't look worried, but wondered why the Allicon called Psyshock instead of Psywave. Staryu then realised when it got hit; this attack may have been a special attack, but it did _physical_ damage! Staryu collapsed from the damage.

"No… Staryu return." Misty returned Staryu to its pokéball before pulling out her other one.

"Go Starmie!" Misty called, but before she could throw the ball, another one opened and the Pokémon that appeared was slightly more _duck_ shaped. _Psy?_ The duck like Pokémon looked confusedly at Misty.

"Grr… PSYDUCK! YOU'RE NOT STARMIE!" Misty shouted angrily and Ash sniggered; this had happened before, on more than one occasion. Psyduck still looked up at Misty confusedly.

"Oh fine… Go if you want to… Ugh…" Misty was sick of this happening. _Hang on… Psyduck knows Water Gun. That would work against Krokorok!_ While Misty was busy thinking the second Allicon commanded Krokorok.

"Use Crunch on Psyduck!" Krokorok ran forward and glared at Psyduck; who just stared back, like it wasn't scared.

"Psyduck use Water Gun!" Psyduck spat a stream of water from its mouth that stopped Krokorok's attack and badly hurt him.

"Chansey use Egg Bomb on Duosion!" Chansey jumped into the air and flung the egg from her pouch at Duosion. Duosion didn't move and so the egg exploded when it hit him. Duosion wobbled a bit from the hit.

"Duosion use Hidden Power on Psyduck!" Packets of sparkly energy appeared around Duosion. It didn't take long for these packets of energy to collide with Psyduck. Psyduck seemed badly hurt from the hit; this Hidden Power was the Grass type.

"Come on Psyduck!" Misty called to her Pokémon. Psyduck heard her and stood more confidently.

"Use Water Gun on Krokorok again!" Psyduck spat another stream of water from its mouth at Krokorok. Krokorok shook the remains of the water off himself after the hit. Krokorok wobbled a bit.

"Krokorok hit it back! Use Assurance!" A large black fist appeared in the air next to Krokorok. The fist aimed for Psyduck and collided with it as hard as it could. Again the fist appeared to grow. Psyduck looked nervously up at the fist.

"Psyduck dodge it!" Psyduck quickly jumped out of the way and the fist flew where it was just standing.

"Chansey use Doubleslap on Krokorok!" Chansey ran forward eagerly and then brought her paw against Krokorok's face. Once! Twice! Three times! Four times! Five times! Krokorok collapsed after the fifth hit.

"Grr… Krokorok return. I hope you can win this…" The second Allicon sounded nervous.

"Don't you worry; I'll beat these kids easily!" The first Allicon still sounded confident.

"Duosion use Hidden Power on Psyduck!" Sparkly packets of energy formed around Duosion and he looked evilly at Psyduck. Psyduck looked confusedly back at him. The packets of energy flew at Psyduck.

"Chansey protect Psyduck!" Chansey jumped in front of Psyduck and took the hit from all the energy packets but Chansey didn't look too badly hurt.

"Alright! Psyduck use Scratch!" Tiny claws glinted on of one of Psyduck's hands. Psyduck ran forward and raised its arm; ready to Scratch Duosion. The Allicon had a plan now.

"Duosion use Psyshock when Psyduck gets close!" Duosion focused and waited until Psyduck was just about to Scratch his lower body. Just before this happened Duosion released waves of psychic energy at Psyduck. Psyduck didn't have time to dodge and got hit by Psyshock. Psyduck collapsed from the damage it'd taken.

"Aw… Psyduck return." Misty pulled out Psyduck's pokéball and returned it to it.

"I hope Chansey can win this…" Misty didn't seem to think that Chansey could win against that Duosion.

"I've only used her so far; even if Chansey faints, I can choose another Pokémon." Brock explained.

"Chansey use Egg Bomb!" Chansey once again threw the egg from her pouch at her opponent. The egg exploded when it hit Duosion and he fell to the ground. Duosion floated back up slowly, but then swirls appeared in his eyes, and he fell back down.

"Grr… Duosion return." The first Allicon growled.

"We'd better go before they start attacking us!" The second Allicon sounded scared and he ran away; apparently he thought Ash and the others were the sort that would hurt him!

"Vashik will make you pay for this! Just you wait!" The first Allicon said angrily before running off. _Chansey! Chansey!_ Chansey shouted happily after them.

"Chansey!" Brock shouted at her; she looked like she was going to run after them.

"Return." Brock returned her to her pokéball before she ran off.

"Now that you dealt with them; we can get going towards Chaar." Ash said impatiently; he was starting to get annoyed with these Quintesson attacks.

"Wait… Do you guys hear that?"

"Hear what Max?" May asked and looked around.

"It sounds like someone enjoyed your battle Misty." Max said, and the others all listened. They could hear two very excited sounding voices chattering in the nearby bushes.

"Hello!" Ash shouted to the two voices.

"Yikes!" One of the voices shouted and the other one laughed.

"Hey! What was that for?" The second voice asked, annoyed.

"That wasn't funny; they weren't supposed to hear us!" The first voice answered.

"You can come out. We won't hurt you!" Ash said, trying to reassure them.

"We'd better go out and talk to them." The first voice said and the group then saw a pair of mechs about the same height as Max.

"Aw… You're so cute!" Dawn cooed.

"Hey! I'm not cute! I'm tough!" The purple coloured one answered.

"Yeah! What he said!" The red and black mech spoke afterwards.

"But you are! How can you actually not get cuddled by all the femmes? You're adorable!" May cooed as well.

"What are you two called?" Max asked them; glad not to have to look up at a Transformer for once.

"I'm Rumble." The little purple mech answered.

"And I'm his twin, Frenzy." The red and black mech answered.

"And we're both going to beat you in a fight!" Rumble said pointing at May and Dawn.

"Battle." Brock said.

"Err… Right, we'll have a battle with you." Frenzy said; hoping that these two weren't really strong.

"I'll referee if you like!" Max said happily.

"Alright then…" Rumble paused.

"Max."

"Max, you can referee." Frenzy told him and then he and his twin moved to one side of the clearing.

"I hope those two cuties aren't little ruffians or thieves like Wheelie." May whispered to Dawn, before going to other side of the clearing.

"How many Pokémon do you two have?" Max asked them.

"Just the one; our boss only let us get our starter Pokémon." Frenzy told Max.

"Alright this will be a two on two battle and it will be over when both Pokémon on one side can no longer battle." Max told them.

"Let the battle begin!" Max sounded hyper; he hadn't refereed a battle before.

"Go Turtwig!" Rumble called out a little green turtle with a shell made out of earth.

"Go Cyndaquil!" Frenzy called out a dark blue anteater with a fiery tail.

"Piplup, spotlight!" Frenzy looked nervous when a little blue penguin appeared. _She just had to have a water type! But it is only a baby; it can't be that strong; can it?_

"Blaziken, take the stage!" Both Rumble and Frenzy looked scared when they saw the size of Blaziken; it looked about twice their size! Rumble saw the fire coming from Blaziken's wrists and became worried for Turtwig's safety.

"Cyndaquil use Smokescreen!" Cyndaquil let loose a cloud of smoke from his mouth; covering both him and Turtwig.

"Blaziken use Flamethrower to shift the smoke!" Blaziken spat a stream of fire from his mouth at the cloud of smoke. The flames hitting the front of the cloud caused it to float backwards revealing Turtwig and Cyndaquil. Both of them looked worried; that penguin hadn't attacked yet.

"Piplup use Bubblebeam!" _Pip-Lup-Lup-Lup! _Piplup cried as he released a stream of bubbles at his opponents. The bubbles hit both of them but Cyndaquil looked the most badly hurt.

"Come on Cyndaquil! You can beat that Penguin!" Cyndaquil looked back at his master, not believing a word he said, but happy Frenzy had faith in his abilities.

"Turtwig use Absorb on Piplup!" Turtwig looked at his master as if to say 'I'm not going to hit that big red Pokémon now am I?' and then green energy appeared around Turtwig, before floating out towards Piplup. When then energy touched Piplup, it turned red, and drained the energy from Piplup. Green energy formed around Turtwig restoring his health a little.

"Blaziken use Blaze Kick on Turtwig!" Blaziken jumped into the air and kicked out; his leg becoming covered in fire.

"Turtwig, dodge it!" Rumble called, but Turtwig couldn't move; he was so scared of the, now flying at him, red Pokémon. Blaziken collided with Turtwig and he barely managed to stand up after being hit like that.

"You can do it Turtwig! Use Tackle on Piplup!" Turtwig ran forward as quickly as he could manage and slammed his body into Piplup; which sent him backwards a few steps. Piplup didn't seem too badly hurt though.

"Piplup use Whirlpool!" Piplup produced a very large swirl of water above his head; which looked far too big for him to be able to control. This swirl of water then flew across the arena at Cyndaquil. Cyndaquil got hit and then trapped in the raging torrent.

"Cyndaquil use Ember to escape!" _I hope this works…_ Frenzy didn't sound hopeful. Cyndaquil spat embers from his mouth but they didn't seem to do much against the swirling torrent of water. Cyndaquil was finally freed from the whirlpool but Frenzy saw why; Cyndaquil had swirls where his eyes should be.

"Cyndaquil is unable to battle!" Max called to the combatants.

"Cyndaquil return. I hope you can win this Rumble…" Frenzy sounded nervous; this was their first battle.

"Turtwig use Withdraw!" Turtwig crouched down and tucked in his legs and head. His defense went up a little.

"Piplup use Whirlpool!" Piplup produced another giant swirl of water above his head.

"Blaziken use Flamethrower!" Blaziken spat fire and Rumble was sure it was the end but the flames didn't touch Turtwig. They went for the Whirlpool above Piplup instead. _Why would you aim there? You can't hurt Turtwig there!_ Rumble thought. The flames didn't get extinguished by the water; they swirled around with it causing a spark where they touched. It looked gorgeous!

"Whoa…" Rumble was as mesmerised by the pretty swirl as Turtwig was; so neither of them reacted when the swirl came towards them. Turtwig got hit by the swirl and was knocked out by the damage.

"Turtwig is unable to battle! The winners are May and Dawn!" Max happily commented.

"Aw… Turtwig return." Rumble returned Turtwig to his pokéball and then walked over to Dawn and May.

"That last attack was amazing!" Rumble sounded awestruck.

"Yeah; how'd you do it?"

"I think I'll let you two figure it out later; it's a contest technique." May told both of them.

"Oh wait; you two were in the Crystal City tournament!" Rumble sounded like a light bulb had just turned on in his head.

"And you got kissed by that mech there!" Frenzy pointed mischievously at Dawn, then Ash. Dawn tried very hard not to blush; she'd been trying to forget about that!

"Rumble, Frenzy desist." A voice spoke from the bushes.

"Oh… Hi boss." Frenzy said and then a blue and white mech stepped out from the shadows he was stood in.

"Leave Dawn alone." The mech told them.

"Thank you Mister…" Dawn said politely but she paused, not knowing this mech's name.

"I am Soundwave." The mech told them.

"Thank you Soundwave." Dawn finished saying.

"It is I who should be thanking you; for teaching Rumble and Frenzy that they can't expect to win every battle." Soundwave sounded sort of happy; it was hard to tell.

"You're welcome." May said.

"Rumble, Frenzy come with me." Soundwave walked off and Rumble and Frenzy walked slowly after him.

"I hope we meet up again, when I have more Pokémon." Rumble sounded hopeful.

"Yeah; and we'll win our next battle!" Frenzy said before running off after his 'boss'. Ash and the others then walked off towards Tarn. Soundwave looked back, thinking silently that he had to watch out for Ash; Perceptor had told him about the League challenger.

**AN: The Soundwave that they came across is G1 Soundwave. And the only way I could think of differentiating between the two Allicons was by saying first and second, based on the order they spoke… Anyways, the Allicon's Kadabra and Rumble's Turtwig are based on my own.**


	16. Squabbles and Stingers

After a bit more walking, Ash and the others spotted the city gate just a little further on.

"That took ages! It seems like we've been walking on this road for weeks!"

"Stop complaining Misty; it hasn't been that long!" Ash told her, continuing to walk on.

"Are you going to challenge the gym?" May asked.

"Of course I am! That is what we came here for!" Ash said back; not really believing that May would ask that.

"I meant straight away; there's got to be more things to do here than that!" May hoped she was right.

"I hope so too May…" Max sounded like he wanted to do something else.

"Alright… Now which way is the gym?" Ash looked around for a little while, until he spotted the gym over in one corner. Ash walked off towards the gym, and the others reluctantly followed. Ash looked at the door and found a note stuck on it. He read the note.

**I'm busy training with my friend Spike.**

**I should be back soon**

**The Gym Leader, Bumblebee.**

"Aw… I wanted to challenge the gym!" Ash whined just as the others caught up.

"Is the gym closed?" Dawn asked him.

"Yeah, the gym leader isn't in at the moment." Ash told her.

"Why don't we see who is in the town square?" Brock suggested and Ash walked off towards the square. As they got nearer, they heard shouting about something.

"It's-my-turn-to-referee-the-next-gym-battle!" A very fast voice spoke first and no one understood him.

"No, Bumblebot said it was my turn next!" Another voice answered and they worked out that these two were arguing about something.

"That's-not-fair! You-refereed-last-time!" Ash now saw that it was a light blue mech who spoke really fast.

"How is it not fair? You referee more often than I do anyway!" The green mech shouted back.

"Hey! Why are you two arguing?" Ash asked and both of the mechs looked at him.

"Wasp-said-that-its-his-turn-to-referee-next. But-he-refereed-last-time-so-it-should-be-my-turn! " The blue mech said; but none of the group picked up much of what he said.

"You two referee matches?" Max asked; he'd picked up more than the rest of them.

"Yes. For Bumblebot; he's the gym leader and our friend." The green mech answered.

"Who's Bumblebot?" May asked Misty quietly.

"Maybe its Bumblebee, you know; the one that Daniel told us about."

"Oh! Yeah that sounds right." May whispered and then looked back to the mechs.

" -do-you-call-him-'Bumblebot'-anyway?" The blue mech asked the green one; the group still didn't hear everything that he said.

"I always called him that! We've been training Pokémon together since we chose our first one!" The green mech said.

"You two stop arguing for a second!" Max shouted and everyone looked around at him; surprised at how loud he shouted.

"First off… What are you two called? You were so busy arguing that you ignored us." Max explained and both of them looked slightly apologetic.

"Sorry-I-ignored-you. I'm-Blurr." The blue mech told them.

"I'm Wasp." The green mech told them.

"Why do you two argue like that?" Brock asked; thinking he could help them solve the problem if he knew why.

"Because-Wasp-keeps-making-up-things-Bumblebee-has -told-us-or-him!" Blurr said really fast; only Max really heard him.

"Blurr always referees so I asked Bumblebot if I could referee his next match and…"

"Blurr is convinced you always referee." Max said and everyone looked at him; surprised.

"That-sounds-about-right." Blurr replied.

"Hi guys! Who are your new friends?" A voice asked from behind the group and everyone but Brock jumped. They all looked around and saw a yellow and black mech.

"Hi-Bumblebee!" Blurr sounded happy.

"These are…err…" Wasp paused; he didn't know!

"Ash." Ash said before pointing to each of his friends in turn.

"Misty, Brock, May, Max and Dawn."

"Oh right… You're the challenger of the league that Spike told me about." Bumblebee said and Ash looked back at him, surprised.

"How did Spike know that?" Ash asked.

"Spike-is-Daniel's-father." Blurr told him but Ash only heard 'Daniel's father'.

"Oh, I see." Ash said before looking back at Bumblebee.

"Can I challenge you now?" Ash asked.

"Sure, I don't see why not!" Bumblebee told Ash.

"Alright then! Let's go challenge the gym!" Ash said walking towards the gym.

"Does he always run off like that?" Bumblebee asked them.

"Didn't someone else you to say the same thing about you?" Wasp asked him and the rest of the group walked after Ash.

"Now that we are here; can I referee the next battle Bumblebot?" Wasp asked.

"Not-fair! You-refereed-the-last-battle!" Blurr said quickly in response.

"Why don't both of you referee this match?" Bumblebee asked them and both of them looked like a light bulb had just flickered on in their heads.

"Oh…" Blurr said and everyone understood him for once; he spoke more slowly this time.

"Why didn't we think of that?" Wasp sounded confused.

"Probably because you were too busy arguing!" Brock told them.

"I'll just go over here and wait for you to go to the challenger's platform, Ash." Bumblebee walked towards the gym leader's platform. Ash stood on the challenger's platform.

"This-will-be-a-three-on-three-battle…"

"Blurr, speak more slowly; we can't understand you!" Ash said, though he had a feeling he knew what Blurr was saying.

"Oh… Sorry. This will be a three on three battle between Ash, the challenger and Bumblebee, the gym leader…" Blurr said more slowly this time.

"And it will be over when all three Pokémon from one side can no longer battle!" Wasp finished what Blurr had started to say.

"Choose your Pokémon!" Blurr shouted.

"Venomoth, let's go!" Bumblebee called out a Pokémon that looked like a large purple moth.

"Staraptor, I choose you!" Ash's predatory bird Pokémon appeared.

"First-battle! Staraptor vs. Venomoth!" Blurr started to talk fast again but then caught himself.

"Let the battle begin!" Wasp called.

"Staraptor use Aerial Ace!" Staraptor flew towards Venomoth as fast as it could.

"Venomoth, dodge it!" Venomoth flew out of the way, just before Staraptor could hit him. Venomoth then got ready to attack.

"Venomoth use Gust!" Venomoth flapped his wings and created a small typhoon which blew into Staraptor. Staraptor fluttered his wings trying to stay in the air.

"Come on Staraptor! You can do this! Use Quick Attack!" Staraptor flew forward towards Venomoth. It slammed into Venomoth before he had a chance to dodge. Venomoth quickly fluttered back up.

"Venomoth use Psybeam!" A rainbow beam of light shot from Venomoth's eyes and into Staraptor, before it had a chance to fly out of the way. Staraptor seemed to be struggling to stay airborne.

"Staraptor use Close Combat!" Staraptor flew at Venomoth and punched him a few times, using his talons. Venomoth reeled a little from the attacks, but his master had an idea.

"Venomoth use Confusion!" Eerie purple light surrounded Staraptor and made it cry out; it was floating upwards, but it wasn't because it was flapping its wings. The purple light vanished and Staraptor fell. For some reason it didn't try to stop the falling with its wings. Staraptor hit the ground with swirls in its eyes.

"Staraptor is unable to battle!" Blurr called out.

"Staraptor return." Ash returned Staraptor to its pokéball.

"You did your best Staraptor." Ash paused before sending out his next Pokémon.

"Go Infernape!" The fiery monkey appeared; looking happy about its opponent.

"Infernape use Flame Wheel!" Infernape jumped and flipped over. He then rolled towards Venomoth and jumped at the last possible second, slamming into Venomoth's stomach. Venomoth couldn't sustain flight after that hit; and fell to the ground. When the dust cleared Venomoth was only just able to flutter back up into the air.

"Use Psybeam, Venomoth!" A rainbow beam shot from Venomoth's eyes and into Infernape. Infernape reeled a bit from the hit.

"Infernape use Mach Punch!" Infernape darted forward at a blinding speed and slammed his fist into Venomoth's stomach. Venomoth was knocked up into the air. When Venomoth collided with the ground, he had swirls in his eyes.

"Venomoth is unable to battle!" Wasp said; he was shocked, Venomoth should have been tough than that.

"Venomoth return." Venomoth disappeared back inside his pokéball.

"Well done for surviving after that Flame Wheel." Bumblebee then pulled out another pokéball.

"Go Leavanny!" A Pokémon that looked like a grasshopper covered in leaves appeared. Ash didn't know what it was; so he looked it up on his Pokédex.

"_Leavanny, the Nurturing Pokémon. It keeps its eggs warm with heat from fermenting leaves. It also uses the leaves to make warm wrappings for Sewaddle._"

"Leavanny use String Shot!" Leavanny shot a string of webbing from his mouth, which wrapped around Infernape; tying his arms to his body. Infernape struggled but found it hard to break free.

"You can do it Infernape!" Ash called and Infernape struggled some more but the strings still kept his arms against his body.

"Trying using Flame Wheel to escape!" Infernape used his legs to push into the air. Fire swirled around him and burned away the string. Infernape then continued rolling and collided with Leavanny. Leavanny cried out in pain.

"Leavanny come on! You can do this! Use Tackle!" Leavanny ran forward and slammed his body into Infernape as hard as he could. Infernape staggered backwards a little and then a reddish light formed around Infernape. _That might be Blaze… Infernape doesn't have a lot of health left…_ Bumblebee thought confidently; maybe Leavanny could beat him!

"Infernape use Flare Blitz!" Ash called. Infernape looked back nervously.

"Don't worry Infernape; I know you will survive the recoil!" Ash sounded hopeful. Infernape seemed to feed off this and cloaked his body in fire before charging at Leavanny. Infernape slammed his body into Leavanny, knocking him flying. Some of the flames back washed onto Infernape hurting him a bit. Infernape wobbled from the damage, but just managed to stay on his feet. Leavanny, on the other hand, was still laid on his back. He wouldn't get up; he had swirls in his eyes.

"Leavanny-is-unable-to-battle!" Blurr called out; again too fast for anyone to really understand what he said.

"Blurr. Ash said you had to speak more slowly so you could be understood." Bumblebee told him.

"Oh… Whoops! Old habits die hard I guess…" Blurr sounded apologetic.

"Leavanny return." Leavanny disappeared inside his pokéball.

"You did your best; that was a tough battle!" Bumblebee whispered.

"Go Vespiquen!" A tall queen bee Pokémon appeared.

"Vespiquen use Fury Swipes!" Vespiquen fluttered forward and slashed her claws across Infernape's tummy. Once. Twice. Three times. After that Vespiquen stopped and fluttered back towards her master. Infernape collapsed to the ground with swirls in his eyes.

"Infernape is unable to battle!" Wasp called out and Dawn looked a bit worried.

"Oh… Come back Infernape." Infernape disappeared inside his pokéball and Ash looked nervously at Vespiquen. _She seems really strong… I hope I can win this without Infernape and Staraptor… Wait a minute!_ Ash then had an idea.

"Pikachu, would you like to battle now?" Ash asked Pikachu. Pikachu responded with an eager sounding _Pika!_ and then jumped down into the arena, opposite Vespiquen.

"Pikachu, start off with Iron Tail!" Pikachu jumped into the air and swung his tail around. Said tail now glowed with a silver light. Pikachu slammed his tail into Vespiquen who fluttered backwards through the air.

"Come on Vespiquen! Use Slash!" Vespiquen sliced one of her sharp claws across Pikachu's stomach before he had a chance to get out of the way. Pikachu hit the ground and quickly bounced back to his feet.

"You OK Pikachu?" _Pika-Pikachu!_ Pikachu called back.

"Alright then! Pikachu use Thunderbolt!" Pikachu loosed a large bolt of lightning which struck Vespiquen. Vespiquen barely managed to stay in the air after that hit.

"Vespiquen!" Bumblebee sounded worried but Vespiquen reassured him with a confident sounding _Vesp!_ Bumblebee then commanded her.

"Use Defend Order!" A bunch of small shapes similar to Combees appeared and surround Vespiquen in a wall like shape. Vespiquen didn't seem worried.

"Pikachu use Quick Attack!" Pikachu darted forward and seemed scared when the Combee wall floated in front of him. Pikachu hit the wall which then dispersed.

"Vespiquen use Slash!" Vespiquen again ran her sharp claws across Pikachu's stomach before he could run away. Pikachu looked smugly back at Vespiquen. Sparks appeared on her claws and then spread slowly around the rest of her body; making her freeze.

"No! Vespiquen is paralyzed!"

"Quick Pikachu, use Volt Tackle before Vespiquen can recover!" Pikachu darted forward and more sparks shot off him producing an electric wave around him. He slammed into Vespiquen, who couldn't do anything about the attack. She collapsed from the damage she'd taken.

"Vespiquen is unable to battle…" Blurr started to say.

"The winner is Ash!" Wasp finished.

"Aw…" Bumblebee sounded disappointed.

"We did it Pikachu!" _Pika! Pika!_ Pikachu happily replied to Ash. Vespiquen had meanwhile stood up and was looking at her master apologetically.

"Don't worry Vespiquen. You did your best! I think you almost beat that Pikachu!" Vespiquen didn't look happy with this but decided to accept it any way. Bumblebee and Vespiquen then walked over to where Ash was stood.

"Ash, your Pokémon are really well trained! You earned the gym badge!" Bumblebee told him.

"We present you with…" Blurr said slowly; he wanted Ash to understand him this time.

"The Apex Badge!" Wasp finished saying. He and Blurr held a box out to Ash with the badge inside it. Ash took the badge and then happily proclaimed.

"Yes! We just won… the Apex Badge!" _Pi-Pikachu! Star-Raptor! Infer-Nape!_ Ash's Pokémon called back.

"Where to next?" Ash asked the rest of the group.

"Not somewhere with lots of problems I hope…" Max sounded worried.

"I would recommend Gygax but…" Blurr trailed off.

"There have been a lot of Quintesson sightings near Gygax recently." Bumblebee finished saying.

"Alright then… Where is the next gym you'd recommend going to?" Brock asked.

"I'd say Vos, I think…" Bumblebee wasn't sure.

"But-there-are-only-two-ways-to-get-to-Vos-from-he re… Oops. I started talking fast again… One way is through Gygax and then out the top exit. And the other…" Blurr trailed off again when he heard Dawn start to speak.

"The other way is to go back to Chaar and then through the other exit…"

"I think we should go to Gygax anyway; why should we be scared of a few Quintessons?" Ash sounded very confident.

"Didn't you hear what Bumblebot said? There is trouble in Gygax!" Wasp told them; he sounded worried.

"Yes, but we'd need to go there at some point." Ash argued and then walked out the door. The rest of the group followed; they weren't as confident as Ash but they thought they could handle a few Quintesson Grunts…

**AN: In this fic it is TFA Bumblebee and Wasp but G1 Blurr, since I prefer what he looks like… And also; Bumblebee and Wasp are friends! On a separate note Bumblebee's Vespiquen and Leavanny are based on my own.**


	17. Two Teams of Trouble!

"I hope this isn't just leading us back the way we came in the first place!" Ash and the others had been wandering around the forest for a little while now and Misty had decided that they must be lost.

"No its not! We haven't changed direction so we must be going a different way to the way we started in!" Ash shouted back.

"Don't start fighting again you two; or we might end up lost!" Brock was playing the voice of reason again.

"Are you sure we are going the right way?" Dawn asked Ash; she thought she'd spotted that tree with carving in it before… Ash stopped and looked around; he thought he'd seen that tree before too. Misty couldn't resist going to have a look. _Who are those two? _Misty read the tree which a heart shape with two names written inside. Misty thought she knew those names from somewhere, but she couldn't remember where at the moment. She walked back over to join the rest of the group. Just when she'd got there, a cage fell and trapped them. Then a bunch of arms shot out of nowhere and grabbed all the Pokémon. _Pika! Piplup!_ Pikachu and Piplup didn't like this. They and the pokéballs containing all the other Pokémon were placed inside a smaller cage.

"Who did this?!" Ash shouted angrily and then he heard giggling. A voice then spoke.

"Listen, is that a voice I hear?" The group then realised who this was…

"It speaks to me, loud and clear!" James said.

"On the wind!" Jessie shouted.

"Past the stars!" James continued on.

"In your ear!" Meowth said smugly.

"Bringing chaos at break-neck pace!"

"Dashing all hope and putting fear in its place!"

"A rose by any other name is just as sweet!"

"When everything's worse our work is complete!"

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Meowth, now dat's a name!"

"Putting the do-gooders in their place!"

"Team Rocket!"

"In your face!" They all shouted.

"Give back our Pokémon now!" Ash shouted at them.

"What are you going to do twerp?" Jessie asked sounding smug.

"You're stuck in a cage and can't do anything to stop us running off with these Pokémon!" James told Ash. Ash knew they were right. He then had a thought.

"Pikachu use Thunderbolt!" Pikachu loosed a Thunderbolt but the bars just absorbed it.

"That cage is Thunderbolt-proofed!" Meowth told Pikachu, who growled back.

"I can't believe it!" Jessie said; sounding completely shocked.

"We actually caught Pikachu!" James and Jessie both said at the same time.

"No you didn't!" A voice said from the bushes near Team Rocket.

"We're going to set them free!" A different voice said before a lavender coloured mech and a blue coloured mech stepped out into the clearing.

"You won't get these Pokémon from us!" Jessie shouted.

"Yes we will! You aren't that tough!" The blue coloured mech sounded confident.

"You can try and battle us if you want."

"I think we'll just be collecting these and going now…" James moved to pick up the cage.

"COWARDS!" The lavender mech shouted and both of them stopped still.

"You may take the Pokémon, only if you can defeat both of us in battle!" The lavender mech sounded confident too.

"Go Yanmega!" Jessie called out her green dragonfly Pokémon.

"Go Carnivine!" Carnivine appeared out of his pokéball and then swung around. Carnivine happily chewed on James' head.

"Why don't you bite that bunny-rabbit over there?" Carnivine was thrown alongside Yanmega.

"Go Kabutops!" The lavender coloured mech sent out a tall brown shellfish Pokémon with crescent moon shaped claws.

"Go Omastar!" The blue coloured mech sent out a Pokémon covered by a spiky shell.

"Carnivine, Bite that Kabutops!" Carnivine sprang through the air and opened his jaws wide; aiming to hit Kabutops' scythe-like arms.

"Kabutops use Mud Shot!" Kabutops spat mud from her mouth into Carnivine's who immediately stopped flying for Kabutops and started trying to spit all that mud out of his mouth.

"Yanmega use Sonicboom!" Yanmega flapped her wings and threw sound waves to opponents. The sound waves took 20 hit points from each.

"Omastar use Ancientpower!" Ancient rocks appeared next to Omastar and then they flew towards Yanmega with a mysterious power. Yanmega looked badly hurt by the rocks.

"Yanmega use Ancientpower too!" Ancient rocks flew by some mysterious power from Yanmega to Omastar this time. Omastar quickly jumped out of the way.

"Omastar use Brine!" Salty water was spat from Omastar's mouth and over Yanmega. The blue mech pondered why Yanmega fell to the ground after two attacks; it should have been stronger than that. Little did they know, Brine was a critical hit on Yanmega and she had about half of her health points.

"No, Yanmega!" Jessie cried; she couldn't believe Yanmega had swirls in her eyes this early on either!

"Oh… Yanmega return." Yanmega returned to her pokéball and then James asked Jessie something.

"How could you lose to that bat mech?"

"Yanmega must have taken a really hard hit, I don't know how I lost! And anyways I'm not lost yet!" Jessie then pulled out another pokéball.

"Go Seviper!" Her Fang-Snake Pokémon appeared.

"Carnivine use Bullet Seed!" Carnivine spat a huge number of seeds from his mouth; making it look like it was raining seeds. These seeds rained down onto Omastar and Kabutops, who wobbled a little from the hit.

"Kabutops use Slash!" Kabutops ran forwards and her crescent moons on the end of her arms glinted. She ran the scythes across the top of Carnivine's head before he could dodge.

"Seviper use Poison Tail!" Seviper's tail glinted purple and then she slithered forward. She swung her tail around and into Omastar. Omastar didn't seem too badly hurt by the attack though.

"Omastar use Spike Cannon!" The spikes on Omastar's shell appeared to fly out at Carnivine. The spikes collided with Carnivine's head. Once. Twice. Three times. Four times. Five times. Carnivine fell to the ground after the fifth hit.

"No! Carnivine!" James called out and returned him to his pokéball.

"You lost to that batty mech too!" Jessie shouted at James.

"I'm not lost yet either, Jessie! Go Mime Jr!" A little clown like Pokémon appeared in front of James.

"Mime Jr use Confusion!" Purple light shone from Mime Jr's eyes, at the same time as Kabutops became cloaked in it. The light lifted Kabutops into the air before letting her drop to the ground. Kabutops landed on her feet, seeming unfazed by the attack.

"Kabutops use Mud Shot!" Kabutops fired a stream of mud into Seviper's eyes. She cried out in shocked and shook the mud off her. Seviper seemed alright, but Jessie couldn't really tell.

"Seviper use Bite on Omastar!" Seviper slithered forward and opened her mouth, making the two very long fangs look very threatening.

"Omastar use Ancientpower!" Ancient rocks appeared beside Omastar, before flying at Seviper. The rocks collided and Seviper stopped in her tracks. She then lowered her head to the ground with swirls in her eyes.

"Seviper!" Jessie called out; now not so sure of winning this battle.

"I hope we can win this Jessie…" James didn't sound confident.

"I hope so too James…" Jessie then pulled out her other Pokémon.

"Go Wobbuffet!" Jessie's blue, round Pokémon appeared in front of her. Wobbuffet didn't look scared this time.

"Omastar use Bite on Wobbuffet!" Omastar waddled towards Wobbuffet as quickly as he could; snapping his jaws together eagerly.

"Wobbuffet use Magic Coat!" An orange barrier surrounded Wobbuffet but Omastar bit down on the top of Wobbuffet's head as if the shield weren't there.

"What? How?" Jessie asked.

"Magic Coat is for blocking special attacks, not physical ones, you dummy!" Meowth shouted unhelpfully from where he was watching.

"Mime Jr use Teeter Dance!" Mime Jr began to wave his arms back and forth but he looked nervously about when none of the other Pokémon started to copy him; was he doing this wrong?

"Kabutops use Aqua Jet on Wobbuffet!" A vortex of water surrounded Kabutops and she jumped into the air. She flew across the arena and then collided with Wobbuffet. Wobbuffet wobbled about but then fell down. He had swirls where his eyes should be.

"No! Wobbuffet return." Jessie sounded disappointed; they would have got Pikachu if it wasn't for those meddling robots!

"I'll try and win this for us Jessie…" James didn't sound hopeful. Mime Jr looked nervously back at James but then smiled; trying to fill James with confidence.

"Alright then, Mime Jr use Doubleslap!" Mime Jr happily bounced forward and then hit Kabutops' face. Once. Twice. Three times. Mime Jr then bounced back to his master leaving Kabutops a little bit stunned. She couldn't believe that thing just hit her!

"Kabutops use Mega Drain!" Green energy floated across to Mime Jr and he cried out when the energy glowed red. Green light then surrounded Kabutops and restored her health a little. Mime Jr was just able to stand up after that hit.

"Omastar use Spike Cannon!" The spikes on Omastar appeared to shoot out of him again. The spikes collided with Mime Jr. Once. Twice. Mime Jr fell down and struggled back up to his feet, but only just.

"Come on Mime Jr, that's it!" James was saying as Mime Jr slowly clambered back up to his feet.

"Now use Confusion!" Purple energy lifted Omastar into the air this time. Omastar landed on the ground but managed to push himself back to his feet.

"Use Slash, Kabutops!" One of her scythes glowed and she ran forward. She sliced her scythe across Mime Jr's stomach. Mime Jr collapsed this time and didn't get up. James ran forward and picked up Mime Jr.

"I'll set the people free; you let the Pokémon go!" The blue mech told the lavender one. The lavender mech then commanded Kabutops.

"Use Slash on the Pokémon cage!" Kabutops ran forward and raised both of her claws; ready to bring down her claws in an X shape. The claws sliced through the cage and all the Pokémon were freed. The cage then exploded sending Team Rocket and their Pokémon flying into the sky.

"If you'd sent out Seviper and got her to use Haze we could have escaped with all of the twerps Pokémon!" James shouted at Jessie.

"If you'd just grabbed the cage and walked off we wouldn't have need to use Pokémon at all!" Jessie shouted back.

"Guy, stop fighting!" Meowth said calmly.

"Because Team Rocket's blasting off again!" The all shouted as they flew into the distance. _Wobbuffet!_ Jessie Wobbuffet shouted when they were just about to disappear from sight.

"I think I'll just open this door and let you guys out of here!" The blue mech pulled open a door that Ash and Team Rocket mustn't have noticed.

"We must look stupid…" Brock said quietly.

"Naw, I wouldn't worry about it; I only just noticed the door, you wouldn't have seen it from that side." The blue mech told them. He pointed a pokéball at Omastar and he disappeared inside. Kabutops and her master came walking over, with all of the pokéballs and…

"Pikachu!"

"Piplup!" Dawn and Ash cried at the same time. They both picked up their partner and cuddled them.

"I thought we were going to lose you for sure this time!" Ash actually sounded relieved.

"Yes, thank you for rescuing them…" Dawn paused hoping for one of them to say their names, while the group collected their pokéballs.

"I'm Scourge and the purple Buneary over there is Cyclonus." Scourge told them with a mischievous tone.

"I've told you to stop calling me after that rabbit! I don't even look like one!" Cyclonus sounded cross. Ash and the others were trying not to snigger; he did look sort of like a Buneary with those horn-like things!

"Anyways, we were wondering if you could show us the way to Gygax…" Ash trailed off.

"Because we're lost!" Misty whined and both mechs looked confusedly at her.

"Would like us to show you the way?" Cyclonus asked them.

"Thank you!" May sounded happier now she had her Pokémon back.

"Then follow me!" Scourge walked off and the rest of the group followed.

**AN: A tarn is a mountain lake… Didn't know that until Word didn't put a red line under it and I looked it up… On a separate note; yay for the heroes! Cyclonus and Scourge! And I'm not sure you should trust those two, Ash… Also Cyclonus' Kabutops and Scourge's Omastar are based on my own.**


	18. A Fight For Freedom!

Ash and the others then noticed that they were being led towards a cave, next to a lake.

"Hey do either of you know what that lake is?" Ash asked them.

"It might help us work out where we are…" Brock hoped Ash still had the map.

"That is Lake Tarn. You should know that at least, if you're from around here." Cyclonus sounded sceptical but continued walking towards the cave. Both he and Scourge were now at the cave entrance and they quickly looked back to see if the kids were still following them, then walked inside. Ash and the others didn't take long to reach the entrance to the cave.

"Are you sure we should go in there?"

"It looks kinda dark…" May and Max both didn't like the look of this cave.

"Cyclonus and Scourge didn't seem to mind going in the cave; so it must be safe!" Ash said, then walking straight into the cave.

"They know something we don't…" Misty reluctantly followed Ash and everyone else followed her. Ash and the others quickly found themselves standing in the entryway to a relatively large cavern. Ash pondered how there was light in here since they couldn't see the door they'd come in. Ash then looked up and saw a few unusually shaped cracks in the ceiling that was letting in some light. These cracked seemed to form the rough shape of a four point star. Ash then was snapped out of his daze by someone shouting at them.

"So, you're the ones who have been causing trouble around here!" The group then looked towards the back wall and saw a blue and white coloured mech sat on what looked like a throne carved out of the rock.

"No, that's not what I told you…"

"Silence! Cyclonus, you only ever bring troublemakers in here so I can punish them, isn't that right?" This blue and white mech had phrased what he said in such a way that Cyclonus could only agree.

"Yes, Mighty Galvatron." Cyclonus said, sounding defeated.

"But sir, we brought them here to warn them about the Quint…"

"Scourge! Do not interrupt me!" Galvatron shouted at Scourge and he quickly became quiet.

"Since you have been causing trouble you will have to fight for your freedom!" Galvatron stood up and walked forwards slightly. Ash and the others thought this was crazy; this mech had it all wrong!

"We weren't causing trouble…" Dawn said just loud enough to be heard.

"Cyclonus and Scourge saved us from the real troublemakers." Ash tried to explain.

"I'm not listening to your lies!" Just as Galvatron said that, Ash and the others heard a squawk above their heads. They saw an Aerodactyl flying towards Galvatron and pondered where it had come from, since it didn't fly over their heads. Brock figured there must be an alcove above the door.

"No Aerodactyl, it's not your turn." Galvatron sounded calm when he spoke to his Pokémon. Aerodactyl fluttered over next to one of the side walls.

"Cyclonus, Scourge, you will help me deal with these pests!" Cyclonus and Scourge looked like they didn't want to fight, but they reluctantly stood next to their leader.

"Which of you six will take up my challenge?" Galvatron glared at them.

"I'll challenge you, you big bully!" Misty shouted at him without a care.

"You'd do well not to test my temper, femme." Misty didn't sound scared of Galvatron, he found that unusual. Brock stepped forwards next to her and Ash stood by her other side. Galvatron looked at Ash inquisitively.

"I've only ever seen one other mech with a Pikachu on his shoulder like that…" Galvatron muttered quietly to himself, he silently hoped that this Pikachu wasn't as strong as the other mechs!

"Right now that we are all ready for it; let's battle!" Galvatron called out excitedly.

"This mech is crazy!" Dawn whispered to May with a giggle.

"I think he's just a bit excitable." May whispered back, before both she and Dawn looked back to watch the battle. Aerodactyl had slowly walked forward and was now perched next to Max.

"You, the challengers, can choose your Pokémon first!" Galvatron shouted.

"Go Sudowoodo!" Brock's tree like Pokémon appeared.

"Go Starmie!" Misty called and said a silent prayer. Luckily Starmie did appear before her.

"Pikachu, I choose you!" Pikachu jumped down from his master's shoulder and stood next to Starmie confidently. _I had hoped that he wouldn't use Pikachu…_ Galvatron thought to himself.

"Fine then! You will regret those choices!" Galvatron still sounded confident. He motioned for Cyclonus and Scourge to choose their Pokémon.

"Go Lopunny!" Cyclonus called out a bunny rabbit with long ears that folded down.

"Go Crobat!" Scourge chose a large purple bat with four wings.

"Luxray, let's win this!" Galvatron confidently shouted and a large blue dog like Pokémon with a black mane appeared. May then had an amusing thought and tried not to giggle.

"What's up May?" Max asked.

"Look at the Pokémon, then look at their trainer." Max did so and then saw what May thought was funny; the Pokémon looked similar to their masters!

"Now that we have our Pokémon ready, let the battle begin!" Galvatron paused for second before calling out an attack.

"Luxray use Thunder Fang!" Luxray's teeth crackled with electricity. She ran forward and eagerly bit down on one of Sudowoodo's arms. Sudowoodo didn't seem too badly hurt but those teeth were sharp.

"Sudowoodo, use Rock Throw!" Sudowoodo then flung a rock from somewhere at Luxray. She flinched a little from the hit, but she didn't seem too badly hurt.

"Crobat use Astonish!" Crobat shrieked eagerly and then fluttered forward, still shrieking. Her lower wings began to glow with a white light. She slammed these into Sudowoodo before it could react; it was covering its ears to try and block out the screeching.

"Pikachu use Iron Tail!" Pikachu leapt into the air and began to flip over, his tail glowing silver as he flipped towards his target. Crobat cried out when Pikachu's metal cloaked tail slammed into her back. Crobat fluttered back up, but that hit seemed to have hurt her.

"Lopunny use Jump Kick!" Lopunny jumped into the air and stuck his foot out; aiming his kick. Brock looked and saw where Lopunny was aiming too.

"Sudowoodo dodge it!" Sudowoodo wasn't paying attention to Brock though; it was looking at Crobat. To Sudowoodo, Crobat looked really large with incredibly long teeth and an angry scowl on her face. Sudowoodo cowered in fear of this sight; thinking that Crobat was going to drain his energy away, just by looking at him. Sudowoodo then felt a force shoving him backwards and looked up to see Lopunny's foot connecting with the top of its head. Sudowoodo flew backwards with the force of the collision and landed at Brock's feet. Sudowoodo tried to push itself up to its feet but it collapsed with the effort.

"No! Sudowoodo!" Brock called out before returning the Pokémon to its pokéball.

"You did your best Sudowoodo." Brock whispered to the pokéball. He then spoke to Misty and Ash.

"I hope you guys can win this…" Brock didn't want to end up in jail; which sounded like where Galvatron said they would end up if he won.

"Don't worry Brock; I'll beat this bully! Starmie use Confusion on Crobat!" The jewel in Starmie's centre glowed with an eerie purple light. Crobat felt herself moving upwards, but she wasn't flapping her wings. Crobat called out in panic.

"Don't worry Crobat! Just flap your wings when the light disappears!" Scourge tried to reassure her. Crobat felt safer now. Starmie had faced flying types before, however and so the light didn't wear off like it usually did; Crobat now felt it forcing her towards the ground. She panicked again and she didn't notice the light had disappeared. She collided with the ground shortly after the light faded. She slowly fluttered back up afterwards and looked nervously at Starmie.

"Luxray, pay back that mean starfish with Spark!" Sparks of electricity appeared around Luxray's mane and she strode confidently forwards. She then concentrated and the electricity jumped across the arena in an arc. The end point of the arc collided with the top point of Starmie, who wobbled a bit from the hit.

"Come on Starmie! Use Psychic on Lopunny!" Lopunny was lifted up into the air by a blue light. He nervously looked down and then felt something hard slam into his back before he felt himself being forced downwards. Lopunny the squeaked as he realised what was happening; he was afraid of falling. Lopunny shut his eyes just before he collided with the floor. Lopunny struggled back to his feet. He also looked nervously and angrily at Starmie; he wanted to know how its master had the right to call anyone a bully with a Pokémon like that.

"Lopunny use Dizzy Punch on Starmie!" The ends of Lopunny's ears turned outwards and he waved them back and forth like fists. Lopunny darted forward still punching his ears out. He rhythmically pounded his ears into Starmie, knocking it back a little with each hit. Starmie wobbled but managed to stay upright.

"Pikachu use Thunderbolt!" A bolt of lightning shot out Pikachu and flew into Crobat, who screeched in pain. Crobat fluttered her wings but couldn't get enough lift to keep herself in the air. Crobat slumped to the ground with swirls in her eyes.

"Aw! Crobat…" Scourge sounded disappointed. He then pointed a pokéball at Crobat and she disappeared inside.

"I hope Galvatron knows what he's doing…" Scourge said quietly to himself.

"Luxray use Bite!" Luxray ran forward and chomped down on one of Starmie's points. Starmie wiggled the point and quickly shook Luxray off but not before it flinched in fear. Luxray looked like a huge wolf with long fangs and claws to Starmie.

"Lopunny use Quick Attack before Starmie can recover!" Lopunny darted forward and eagerly looked at Starmie; he wanted to knock it flying!

"Starmie dodge it!" But Starmie didn't seem to hear Misty. Lopunny slammed his body into Starmie at high speed; sending it sliding backwards. Starmie fell onto its back and didn't get up.

"Starmie, return…" Misty's Pokémon disappeared inside its pokéball.

"I hope you can win this Ash…" Misty sounded worried; Ash was going to have to beat Lopunny and Luxray to give them their freedom.

"Don't worry Misty. Pikachu use Quick Attack!" Pikachu darted forward at Luxray; who looked shocked when Pikachu slammed into her. _Lux?_ She looked at the opponent as if to say 'was that supposed to hurt?'

"That's the spirit Luxray! Use Thunder Fang!" Electrical energy surrounded Luxray's teeth and she charged forward eagerly; she thought she was going to win this!

"Pikachu, dodge it!" Pikachu waited until the last possible second before jumping over Luxray. She growled angrily; this mouse was annoying her!

"Lopunny use Dizzy Punch!" Lopunny waved his ears back and forth like a pair of fists. He slowly walked forwards, trying to look as intimidating as possible. Pikachu didn't look scared at all.

"Pikachu use Volt Tackle!" Pikachu charged forward and sparks began to cloak him. He collided with Lopunny and sent him sliding backwards, stopping his attack. Lopunny wobbled from the hit but managed to stay on his feet.

"Come on Lopunny! Use Quick Attack!" Lopunny darted forward and knocked Pikachu flying backwards, he was still recovering from the recoil of Volt Tackle. Pikachu landed and seemed ok after that hit though.

"Pikachu use Iron Tail!" Pikachu jumped into the air and slammed his tail into Lopunny before he had time to think about dodging. Lopunny fell down onto his knees with the force of the hit. Lopunny tried to stand back up, but didn't have the strength left to do it. He collapsed to the ground with swirls in his eyes.

"Lopunny!" Cyclonus called out in disbelief; he'd hoped Lopunny was stronger than that. Lopunny disappeared inside his pokéball.

"Not that I doubt you Mighty Galvatron, but I hope you can win this." Cyclonus sounded slightly unsure.

"You say you don't doubt me, but you hope I can win this? That sounds like doubt!" Galvatron then realised there was no point telling off Cyclonus for doubting him; he could do that when he won.

"Luxray use Bite!" Luxray eagerly snapped her jaws together; she wanted to nibble that funny shaped tail. Her jaws clamped down onto the end of Pikachu's tail and he cried out.

"Pikachu use Thunderbolt to get Luxray off!" Electricity jolted out of Pikachu and into Luxray, who let go in shock. Luxray ran back to her master and eagerly awaited commands.

"Luxray use Spark!"

"Pikachu use Volt Tackle!" Both Pikachu and Luxray ran forward covered in electrically energy. Both of them collided near the middle of the cavern. Both of them looked hurt by the attack and both only just seemed able to stand up. Luxray wobbled as Pikachu took the recoil damage from Volt Tackle. Luxray collapsed but Pikachu remained standing.

"Looks like we won!" Ash said happily and Pikachu ran over to him. _Pika-Pika!_ Galvatron looked at both of them and smiled; they reminded him of the other mech a little.

"Thank you; you were great Pikachu!" Ash said to his Pikachu. _Pika! Pikachu!_ Pikachu happily shouted. _That boy does remind me of that mech… I wish I'd bothered to listen to him…_

"Luxray return." Luxray disappeared inside his pokéball.

"So then, you aren't from around here are you?" Galvatron didn't shout and actually seemed calm for once. May and Dawn couldn't believe it.

"No, I'm Ash and I journeyed here from the Kanto Region."

"Oh right. Where you can find Old Amber…"

"Me and Max are from the Hoenn Region."

"And I'm from Sinnoh." Dawn said.

"None of them are from here." Cyclonus told Galvatron.

"We came back here because you have the map." Scourge then spoke to Galvatron who finally seemed to listen to reason.

"Ah. Why didn't you tell me this before?" Galvatron then thought by the looks he was given he must have been in one of those moods where he wouldn't listen to anyone else.

"Never mind. Would you like me to lead you to…?" Galvatron trailed off hoping for Ash to tell him where they were going.

"Wasp told us the best place to go was Gygax to get to Vos." Brock told Galvatron.

"There have been a lot of incidents there lately but… I'll go with you." Galvatron then turned to Cyclonus and Scourge.

"Come along you two! We're going to Gygax!" Galvatron walked towards the cave exit and Cyclonus motioned for Ash and the others to follow him. Ash and the others walked after the Cybertronians towards the cave exit, closely followed by Galvatron's Aerodactyl.

Gygax…

"That was much easier with that map!" Misty said walking into Gygax; completely oblivious to all the danger that was apparently lurking around.

"Why didn't you know the way Cyclonus?" Max asked him.

"I don't normally travel places on foot…"

"What?" May looked incredulously at him.

"How else might you get around then?" Dawn asked; she thought they might have teleporters or something like that.

"I normally fly over that forest so I don't know the way through…" Cyclonus got incredulous looks from them all now.

"Fly?"

"You didn't think these wings were just for show did you Ash?" Scourge asked sounding amused.

"And we aren't called Transformers for nothing!" Galvatron commented. He'd now caught up with Misty and he'd noticed she wasn't paying attention.

"Who dares?!" A loud voice shouted at the group; making Misty jump. The group looked around to see where that noise came from but couldn't see anyone. A shape stepped out of the shadows and the group grew more nervous; they weren't sure what it was yet.


End file.
